


The Howling Moon

by totemwolfie



Series: The Howling Series [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood and Guts, Bloodshed, Crows, Fantasy, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Horror, Hunters, Love, M/M, Monsters, Smut, Torture, Violence, Werewolves, full moon madness, packmates, werewolf violence, wolf magic, wolf packs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-16 08:03:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 60,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5820619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totemwolfie/pseuds/totemwolfie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke's world is turned upside when he finds out that his brother and his friends are werewolves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Wolf Pack

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of background: I've been writing this series (The Howling Series) for holy shit, almost ten years. There are sixteen stories (including full books, short stories, PWP and a spin-off book.) I've hosted this series on LiveJournal for years, but it's gone downhill as of late and I can't seem to keep more than a couple readers, so I decided that my series needed a new home! I will be posting it, chapter at a time, so I can dust them off a little before posting them here. My goal is a chapter a week. Enjoy! Keep Howling xoxo

His parents were convinced that things were getting worse around the house. Luke secretly agreed with them, but when confronted he always stood up for his brother. His older brother was rarely home anymore. He went to school and went out with his friends, often returning at odds hours in the night. Dan and Mary had tried to assert their authority over Collin; tried locking him in the house and outside the house. They had threatened to call the police if he didn’t come home at the designated time. They had even taken the keys to his car. But nothing fazed Collin, if anything it just pushed him to extend his late-night hours. There were times that he just didn’t come home.

Luke knew that Mary had gone so far as to spy on Collin when they were in school, he’d seen her in parked across the street, waiting for school to let out. Luke had stood awkwardly on the steps of the school, watching her as she watched for Collin with binoculars. But Collin was smarter and craftier, and had evaded her again.

During this entire time a fissure began to grow in the family. It had always been there, Dan and Mary had never hidden the fact that Luke and Collin were adopted. They had never wanted to be called ‘mom’ or ‘dad.’ That was never a problem, not until the past few years, after Collin had tried to kill himself. Luke remembered it well, too well, and it still haunted his nightmares. It had been the first real crack in their family, when Dan and Mary had started fighting, and then turned their aggression toward the two of them. Collin escaped it by taking off at night. Luke wasn’t so lucky.

It was Saturday night and Luke was lying in bed with an ache in his stomach. Collin hadn’t been in the house since Friday morning, and Dan and Mary were arguing on whether they should call the police or not. Not because they cared really, but because they were angry. Listening to them fight had made Luke feel nauseous, so he’d retreated to his bedroom.

Not that it took a lot to make him feel sick. These days he always felt somewhat ill. Luke kept it to himself, not wanting to draw unwanted attention. He was sure he could handle it. Or, that’s what he told himself every time he woke up shaking and sweating and dry heaving from a nightmare.

The day had been hot but with his windows open the cool night air was starting to flow in. The sky was painted with the colors of dusk and fireflies blinked in and out of sight on the other side of the window screen. He thought about going through the window and sitting on the roof and staring at the sky. But Dan said he caught him out there again, he would nail the window shut.

Apparently they thought he would try to jump and kill himself? Luke wasn’t so stupid to jump off a two-story house. He would just cripple himself, and that wasn’t something he wanted. He told them he wasn’t suicidal like his brother, but trying to convince them of anything was like talking to a wall.

With neon green headphones over his ears, he lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. His room was small with two windows and a closet big enough for a few boxes and his shirts. The walls were plain, because Dan didn’t want any clutter covering the walls. His bulletin board was the only thing on the wall, and it was weighed down by a calendar and lots of magazine clip-outs and photos. Anything personal was kept in a lock-box under the bed and the key was kept with him at all time. He’d had to hide it in another box that was filled with old books and clothing, because he knew if his parents found it, they would find a way to open it.

It wasn’t like there was anything illegal or dangerous in the box. There were no drugs or needles or porn. Just personal things of Luke’s that he wanted to keep personal. Like poetry and drawings. There was a journal he had just started to keep after Collin’s suicide, where he wrote all his thoughts and now, his nightmares. He didn’t want anyone to read it. He didn’t even like to read it.

Of the personal things in box, his most precious was photos of him and Collin when they were younger, before things changed. It had been almost two years since Collin had attempted suicide. Collin had gone missing for three days and when he had finally returned home, he looked more fragile and vulnerable than Luke had ever seen. There had been something haunted and terrified in his eyes. His skin had been pale and bruised and scratched, and Luke had wanted to wrap his brother in a blanket, give him hot chocolate, and hold him. He had looked…so scared. So violated.

Dan had responded badly, not taking Collin’s obvious terrified state in mind, and the two had sparred in the hallway, yelling and shoving. They thought he was on drugs, they thought he was a slut, they thought he’d been on a bender. They had been so blind that they couldn’t see the pain there, the fear. It had boiled over into anger and then…

Not long later that same day, Luke found Collin on the bathroom floor with cut wrists and arms. There had been cuts everywhere, blood everywhere, and his older brother, sprawled on the floor, bleeding out.

A sudden ringing in his ear snapped him from his daydream and he sat up, alarmed. Looking down at his side Luke saw his cell phone glowing and ringing at him for attention. He frowned, seeing Collin’s name and picture as the caller, and answered it.

“Hello?” he asked uncertainly as he pushed the headphones down around his neck.

At first he heard nothing but a muffled voice. The sound of voices, laughter and blaring music hurt his ear. He frowned and waited until the music stopped and all was quiet. 

“Luke, hey.”

“Collin,” he said as he sat back against the bed’s headboard. “Um, what’s up?”

“Nothing really,” he replied. “I just got to thinking about you. What are you doing?”

“Sitting in bed,” Luke said, running a hand through his blond hair. “Where are you?”

“At Moonbeam,” Collin answered. Moonbeam was a nightclub in Pineview City. It allowed minors, except for the nights where it posted twenty-one and over shows. It was a hot spot for teenagers and young adults, filled with loud music from local bands. Collin and his friends had formed a band called Howl and often played there. Luke had never seen them perform, had never heard their music. Thinking about it made Luke’s chest hurt.

“So you’re home?” Collin asked.

Luke rolled his eyes and pulled his knees to his chest. “Where else would I be?”

“Maybe I’ll come home,” Collin said wistfully. “Did you eat anything tonight?”

“I wasn’t that hungry,” Luke said. “Dan and Mary were arguing. They’re gonna call the cops on you, Collin. Maybe…I mean. Do you really want to come home?”

“I’ll bring pizza. See you in twenty, okay?”

The line went dead before Luke could answer. He set his phone down on the bed and frowned at it. Collin never wanted to come home. So what was the deal? Maybe he was drunk or high. Maybe he had a falling out with his friends. There were too many possibilities, but the more ludicrous was the thought that his brother actually wanted to spend time with him. That was something Luke couldn’t believe. 

Luke’s chest tightened and he sighed, feeling stupidly hopeful that maybe he was wrong and Collin did miss him and wanted to spend time with him, like when they were little kids. He missed his brother. Luke felt like he hadn’t seen the real Collin since the suicide attempt.

He went and sat down in the old green chair by the window. It was dark now and shadows were creeping over the small Pineview suburb of The Burns. Their house was a two-story with no basement, with a medium sized yard and lots of old, tall trees. The streetlights down the road had blinked on when the sun disappeared, casting everything in a dull yellow glow. Somewhere beyond the trees and houses a crescent moon was on the rise, nothing but a silver sliver in the sky, surrounded by a scattering of stars.

He heard the familiar purr of Collin’s car, coming down the opposite street. He sat up, watching the light cast by the headlights brighten the street for a moment before the car was pulling into the driveway. Turning he stood and walked to his door, peering out into the dark hallway. He heard the front door open and the sound of approaching steps.

The light stayed off as Collin started up the stairs and turned to come down the hallway. When Collin saw Luke standing in the doorway of his bedroom, he paused and grinned. He motioned for Luke to follow him into his own bedroom, so Luke hit the lights and darted across the hallway.

Collin set the food down on his desk. There was a pizza, a couple of sodas, and a bag of food. Luke took a moment to look at his older brother. Collin was tall and slender, with long pale blond hair that was currently tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing black skinny jeans, skull print sneakers, and a Jack Skellington hoodie. There was makeup smudged around his eyes, making them seem black instead of brown. 

“Come here and set this stuff out,” Collin said, handing Luke the grocery bag as he went to the closet to change. He pulled off the hoodie to reveal a tight black mesh shirt, before pulling that off too and tugging on a black long sleeve t-shirt that was tight around his belly and chest, and shook off the jeans and slipped on a pair of grey drawstring pajama pants. His socks were mismatched, one black and the other rainbow stripes. Mismatched socks was the one thing Luke did to mimic his brother, and he’d been doing it for so long that like his brother, it was just second-nature to dig through his sock drawer to find two pairs of different socks. Dan and Mary hated it, had even tried to throw out all their socks and replace them with black ones.

Luke went through the plastic bag, pulling out a bag of chips, breadsticks and sauce from the Pizza Palace, and some chocolate brownies from the store. There was also a large bag of M&Ms. Luke ripped the bag open and ate a handful. As he munched on the candy he glanced around Collin’s bedroom.

It wasn’t as plain as his was. His brother had rebelled against their parents and hung up posters and his own artwork despite their angry words. After Dan had taken the posters and artwork down, again and again, Collin had snapped. He painted his ceiling black and two walls of his room. His bed sheets were black, and his carpet was white. There were strings of photo clips across one wall, filled with Polaroid photographs of Collin and his friends. String lights were woven around the headboard on his bed.

“Hey Collin,” Luke said as he opened the pizza box. He lost his thought for a moment, staring down at the barbeque chicken and bacon pizza, covered in hot cheese, black olives, tomatoes, onions and extra cheese. “Uh, I meant to say, well ask, just why you came home tonight?”

Collin shrugged as he reached past Luke for a slice of pizza. “I don’t know,” he said after swallowing a big bite. “I guess I was feeling nostalgic and a little guilty. You’re fifteen now, and I missed your birthday.”

“Yes, because there was just so much to miss,” Luke said with a scowl. He hadn’t had a party or even a cake, just some birthday money from Dan and Mary and an hour lecture about drugs, drinking, girls and the proper way to spend money. Not that he had expected anything normal from them. But sometimes it was nice to dream.

“I should have taken you out instead of leaving you at home,” Collin said as he lounged in his desk chair and Luke sat down on the bed. He opened one of the bottles of soda and took a long drink.

“You’re worrying me? This doesn’t make any sense,” Luke said, nibbling on a sauce-dunked breadstick. “Want to tell me the truth of exactly why you’re here? Are you um, high or something?”

Collin stared at him, before giving him a little grin. “So I have to be high to come home and talk to you?” 

Luke shrugged, focusing his attention on his food.

Collin exhaled a loud breath. “I’m not high,” he said. “I just wanted to hang out with you.” He stood and went to the television sitting on top of his dresser. He selected a horror movie from the pile DVDs and popped it into the player.

Luke rolled his eyes as he felt his ears heat. He felt like he was being made fun of, but Collin has never been mean to him. “Whatever.” When the movie began Luke felt his stomach drop and start to turn. “Um, this movie…”

Collin had stopped to grab another slice of pizza and a handful of chips. “What about it?”

“I can’t watch this,” he finally said, shrugging. “I can’t. Call me a chicken-shit if you want, Collin, but I can’t watch this. I can’t sleep anyway.”

“Having trouble sleeping?” he asked, immediately turning off the movie.

“Yeah, for about a month now,” Luke said. He got himself another piece of pizza as Collin started reading off the names of his movies. They were all horror; all bloody, horrible scary movies that would drill into his head and worm their way into his nightmares. Just thinking about it made him feel a little nauseated. 

A month ago this hadn’t been a problem. A month ago he’d been able to watch anything that his brother owned. A month ago he wasn’t having nightmares every night.

They debated for a couple minutes before agreeing on an action-comedy. “What are the dreams about?” Collin asked as he sat on his bed next to his brother.

Luke didn’t exactly want to talk about it. Mary had already threatened to take Luke to a therapist if he woke up screaming one more time, and when he’d tried to tell her about the dreams she’d gone pale and asked him if he was on drugs. Luke thought his parents needed to read one of those pamphlets from the school that listed the behavior of a person on drugs, but Luke knew he wasn’t acting like he was stoned or tweaking.

“Well?”

“Monsters,” Luke said, giving in. “I’m in the forest alone, and there are monsters chasing me. Sometimes they look like wolves and sometimes they look like werewolves. And sometimes I can’t tell what they are, just that they’re big and furry with glowing eyes and lots of teeth. They sometimes get me, and eat me alive, but other times I find them in the woods eating people.” He took a deep breath. “Random people like from school or someone I’ve seen on the street. No one in particular or for any reason—and a lot of times I find them and they’re eating me, and I realize I’m watching myself be devoured and as I’m being devoured I’m watching myself back and—“

“Luke.”

He cleared his throat and looked up at his brother. “Huh?”

“That’s disturbing,” he said, giving him a soft smile. “You should write them down.”

“I already have,” Luke said, frowning at him. “If you stuck around, you’d know that.”

Luke rose abruptly and Collin did as well. “I’m sorry,” Collin said, surprising him. “You’re completely right. We’re brothers and I should be there for you. Leaving you here, with those idiots, isn’t very brotherly of me.”

“Okay seriously! Who are you and where’s my brother?”

“Pizza brings out the best in me,” he said with grin. “Sit your ass down and help me finish all this food,” he said, giving Luke a playful shove onto the bed and went to get himself another bottle of soda. Collin turned off the light, switched on the string lights wrapped around the headboard, casting the room in a soft light. He grabbed the pizza and food and sat on the bed.

Some hours later Luke was asleep and the movie was over. Collin had cleared off the bed and disposed of the empty food boxes before crawling into bed. The night was cool and he pulled a blanket up over the two of them before lying down beside his brother.

Luke’s face was mostly peaceful. His sunny-blond hair was messy on the pillow and his fingers had curled around the blanket, reminding Collin of when they were kids and Luke would crawl into bed with him after a bad dream. His face was soft, still boyish, but his cheekbones were sharp, and his lips pink and slightly parted as he slept. His eyebrows would twitch, and he would frown, but he didn’t wake up screaming or dream about monsters. His dreams were blissfully blank.

…

In the morning the bed shifted and Collin heard Luke slip from the bed, shoving the blankets to the side, and shuffled from the bedroom. The creaking floor told Collin that Luke was headed for the bathroom. A minute later Luke came back, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and sat back down on the bed next Collin who was awake and staring at his black ceiling. 

“Do you want to do something today?” Collin asked.

Luke lay back across Collin’s legs, leaving his feet on the floor. He yawned loudly. “Like what?” he asked sleepily. He looked at Collin as he sat up, stretching his arms above his head until his back popped. Collin was ridiculously handsome. He had a lot of admirers in school, girls who were always looking at him and talking to him, but as far as Luke knew, Collin had never dated one of them.

“You haven’t met the guys, have you?” Collin asked. He pulled his legs out from under Luke and pushed the blankets off and onto Luke’s face.

“Well, I know who they are,” he said as he sat up, shoving the blankets to the side. Their school was big, and if wasn’t for the fact that he instinctively looked for his brother throughout the school-day, he probably wouldn’t have a clue who the three boys were. There was Fox and his cousin Grey, and Raven, who for whatever reason, lived with the other two. They lived outside of the city, near the national park. There was a lot of mystery surrounding the three, because there was so little to know about them. And because they were, according to the girls Luke could hear gossiping, the hottest boys in the school.

“Why don’t you come with me to their house today,” he said. “We were going to barbeque today, and hang out, play video games and stuff like that. It’ll be fun.”

“I guess so,” Luke said. “But won’t they mind me tagging along?”

“Hell no,” he said as he stood. “I’m going to shower and change first.”

So Luke went and changed his clothes and ate a leftover piece of pizza for breakfast. He sat on Collin’s bed and looked around at everything he wouldn’t have noticed earlier. Like all the pictures of Collin with his friends. Of them at school, hanging out, at Moonbeam performing, at what must be their house, and swimming at Crystal Lake. He felt jealous that these three people got more of his brother’s attention and time than he did. That maybe they were the ones that had taken him away. But didn’t they have every right to take him away? What was Luke, compared to them? He was just the little brother. He hadn’t been able to stop Collin from attempting suicide, he hadn’t been the one that Collin had turned too while in the hospital. 

Collin came in with a towel around his waist and dressed as Luke flipped through Collin’s CD collection. Once his hair was brushed and dried he slipped on a t-shirt and his blue jeans and sat on the bed to pull on a clean pair of colorful socks and his sneakers.

“Ready?” Collin asked as he pulled on a faded red sweatshirt. He grabbed his wallet, checked it for money and pushed it into his back pocket along with his phone.

Dan and Mary were in the living room, watching the morning news, and Collin ignored them when they asked where the two of them were going. Collin drove an old red two-door Chevrolet Grand Prix that had one too many stickers in the back window and too many stuck to the rusted back-bumper. Collin peeled out of the driveway before they could be stopped and out of the block, heading for the interstate that would take them out of the suburb.

They stopped at Starbucks before hitting the road. As they pulled through the drive-thru line, Collin turned to his brother. “Want anything?”

“Um,” Luke said. “I don’t really like coffee all that much.”

“They have hot chocolate.”

“Oh,” he said, interested. “Yes, please.” 

Collin ordered himself a vanilla latte and Luke’s hot chocolate and waited in line behind the other cars. He was drumming his hands on the steering wheel in beat with the song, when he suddenly remembered something. He tugged a necklace out of his shirt and pulled it over his head. “Here,” he said, offering it to his brother.

The necklace was on a long black chord, and hanging from the end was a bronze arrow head with a silver feather hanging over the top.

Luke wasn’t quite sure what to make of the gift, but he dropped it over his head and tucked it into his shirt anyway. “Thanks,” he said with a little smile. They pulled up to the window and paid for their drinks. Luke sipped his hot chocolate and sighed. It was delicious!

The rest of the drive was quiet, broken only by the punk rock screaming from the radio. It was a longer drive than Luke would have thought, probably would have been made longer if Collin actually drove the speed limit. When the music wasn’t so loud Luke could hear Collin singing with it; his voice was perfect and beautiful, soft and dark at the same time, singing in tune with the dark lullaby that came from the radio. While the singer’s voice was deep and gothic, at some times screaming, his brother’s was soft and eerie, echoing in a way that made Luke picture soft moonlight in the dead of night, where shadows lurked and had hands, waiting so snatch you up as you tried to pass unnoticed.

A sudden exit off Interstate 50 snapped Luke out of his daydream. They sped away from the busy traffic onto a short strip of concrete highway until Collin took the exit for Chesapeake Road. The road was narrow and dirt; the trees grew tall here, blocking the morning sun and creating little shadows of their own.

They were going deeper into the forest and followed a long lane through the trees until everything opened up and a large house came into view. Some of the grass had been replaced by gravel and that’s where Collin parked, next to a car and pick-up truck. The house was huge and white, with a long, wide porch that was attached to the front. There were many windows and Luke saw that the back yard was fenced in. As they got out of the car he heard dogs barking and he saw two Siberian huskies at the fence, standing on their hind legs and whining, with tails wagging furiously.

“Dunri and Dashi, Grey’s dogs,” Collin said. “They’re really, really friendly. Kind of like Grey.”

Luke smiled nervously, biting his lip, and followed his brother up to the house. The porch squeaked and Collin didn’t even pause to knock before pulling open the old, creaking screen door and walking in. Luke followed, shoving his hands into his pockets to keep from fidgeting too much. 

The front door opened in the kitchen, which was open to the living room, to their left. There was a narrow stairway straight ahead and a hallway in the living room that lead to the back bedrooms. There were three doors in the kitchen, one to the basement, laundry room, and one to the backyard. Luke could hear the dogs whining and barking at the door, which caught the attention of one of the house’s occupants, Grey.

The boy came up from the hallway and through the living room. “Hey guys!” he said. Luke turned to look at him and smiled. Grey was the most polite of the bunch, he was also the most well-known around school and was the drummer in their band. He was a huge flirt, and he shamelessly flirted with everyone. His hair was long, hanging down past his shoulders, and looked to have been colored with dye so it was shades of grey, black and white, so it was hard to tell what color his hair was supposed to be. But all those monochrome tones made the blue of his eyes all the brighter, all the more playful. He was slender with muscled arms and a firm chest, long legs and currently was bare-footed. He was wearing jeans and a tight sleeveless shirt.

“Luke, it’s a surprise to see you here,” Grey said as he looked the little blond over.

Luke nodded and looked down at his shoes for a moment. “Collin, um, asked me to come with.”

“That’s cool,” he said with a grin and a shrug. “You’re always welcome. I hope you like dogs, because if I don’t let them in they’re going to drive me fucking crazy.”

“He loves dogs,” Collin answered for him as Grey went and opened the back door. The two huskies piled in, nearly knocking Grey over, and ran straight for Luke and Collin at full speed. Both were white and grey, with happy blue eyes and wet noses. 

Luke laughed, nearly falling over as both jumped at him, whining and sniffing, tails wagging. He had to lean against the door and tried to give both an equal amount of attention. While doing this he didn’t notice Collin slip away and up the stairs.

There were a great many secrets that Collin kept from his brother and his parents. The biggest secret of his life he had planned on keeping to himself for his entire life, but things were changing. Collin took a deep breath, inhaling the heady scent of werewolf.

He went to the first door on the right and entered without knocking. 

The teenager sitting at the desk looked up when Collin stepped into the room. The desk had been cleared off so he could work. A nearly constructed dreamcatcher sat before him, but the sight of Collin made him turn away from the project. He smiled and rose to greet him. The taller boy had shoulder-length, frizzy brown hair the most beautiful green eyes that Collin had other seen. His name was Fox, and he was slender like Grey, only with a little bit more of muscle packed onto his teenage frame. 

Collin sighed contently as Fox pulled him into a hug. Warmth spread through him and Fox’s scent, werewolf mixed with the leather and feathers of his dreamcatcher on the desk, washed over him. Fox nuzzled his chin against Collin’s neck; scent-marking disguised as a sweet gesture.

Collin pressed his face into the curve of Fox’s neck and closed his eyes. They had seen each other just last night, but every moment away from Fox made Collin’s heart ache. Fox was his first love and also the alpha of their small, immature pack. The heavy scent of alpha wolf soaked into Collin’s pores, relaxing him, making him feel both vulnerable and protected. He could stand in Fox’s arms for hours and never feel the urge to move away.

“You brought your brother with?” Fox asked as he stepped back from the hug.

“He’s downstairs with Grey and the dogs.”

“I wondered why they were barking up a storm,” Fox said with a little grin. He had dimples and pale freckles across his nose. “His scent is different too, it’s starting to change. It’s not quite werewolf-ish yet, but it’s definitely not completely human anymore. I guess that means you’re both cursed.”

Collin nodded and fiddled with a long white feather that he picked up from the desk. “Yeah, there’s no mistaking it. He’s starting to go through the same things that I did before I first Changed. He was telling me about his nightmares last night. Same kind of shit that I had to go through. And he’s lost some weight, too. He’s too skinny and hasn’t been sleeping and…” Collin shook his head. “I shouldn’t have ignored him for this long.”

Fox caught Collin’s wrist and turned it over and tenderly kissed the wrist band that hid scars beneath it. “You did what you thought was right, Collin. You didn’t know if Luke would turn the same way you did. You wanted to protect him. But now that we know, we can help him.”

“I’m not going to let what happened to me happen to him. I’m going to start bringing him around him more until the time comes. Maybe…maybe being around the pack will help him. Maybe it won’t be like my first time.”

Grey called it ‘losing your werewolf virginity’ (because he thought he was funny.)

“Do you remember everything you went through?” Fox asked. The most common way people became werewolves was after a bite from one. Werewolf bites were infectious, if you were bitten by one, and survived the bite, you would turn on your first full moon. Others were born into it, like Raven, coming from a family pack. But with Collin and Luke knowing no family history, there was no way to understand why they were starting to Change after they reached a certain age. The best guess they had come up with had come from Raven, who thought that Collin suffered from a curse, passed down through the bloodline.

“I wrote most of it down,” Collin said with a frown. A shiver ran up his spine when Fox stepped close and pushed his ponytail to the side so he could nuzzle at the back of his neck. Lips pressed against his skin and then there was a little nip. 

“Mm,” Fox said with a deep laugh. He pressed another kiss against Collin’s neck and slid his arms around the boy’s slender body and pulled him back against him. He nibbled at Collin’s ear, making the pale blond purr.

“Fox, we can’t do this,” Collin said, even as he pressed back against him. Fox’s alpha scent was deep and alluring, and Collin found it irresistible. Most of the time. He stepped away and turned to look at him. They were both blushing. “You conniving wolf.”

“I am good at conniving,” Fox said with a laugh. 

The sound of barking dogs echoed up through the window. Collin stepped over to look out, seeing the two huskies as they ran across the yard chasing a red Frisbee.

“Let’s go downstairs and see what they’re up to,” Fox said, switching off the radio and the lights. The house had grown quiet after Grey moved them all outside. The scent of the omega wolf and human boy still lingered in the kitchen. 

They walked through the back door and into the yard, which was fenced in completely to keep the dogs from running into the forest. The house was nestled off the main Interstate and down a secluded road through the trees, and sat on the edge of Pineview National Park. Living on the edge of a national park meant that the pack had free reign of the forest, without the worry of hunters or logging. But it also meant they had to watch for campers and hikers.

In the fenced in yard were two picnic tables, a large grill, pots filled with flowers and a little plastic kiddie pool filled with water for the dogs to lounge in when they got too hot. 

Luke looked up when he saw his brother and the other boy walking toward them.

“Collin tells me you’re staying for lunch,” Fox said.

Luke nodded. “If that’s okay with you, or um, your mom and dad?”

“My parents are out of state at the moment,” Fox said. “So they aren’t around to ask. They usually aren’t around, actually. So don’t worry about that.”

Luke sat down at the picnic table, petting one of the dogs. He didn’t know which one it was, and he didn’t really care. “So…I mean. It’s okay that I’m here?”

Fox laughed. “Yeah! Of course. Don’t be so insecure, Luke. We’re all friends.”

Collin stepped up to the picnic table and sat down next to his brother. “So you’ve met everyone. Except Raven. He’ll show up when the food is ready.”

Luke huffed, blushing a little. “I knew who they were I just…didn’t know them.”

Collin grinned and pushed against Luke’s shoulder. “Ah, of course.”

“But I guess,” he said as he stared down at the dog, “I don’t know Raven at all.”

“Don’t let him intimidate you,” Fox said. “He’s an asshole, but it’s just his personality.”

Luke looked up with a frown.

“If he gives you a cold shoulder and tells you to fuck off, don’t feel bad,” Grey said with a brilliant smile, “he treats us all that way.”

“Wow, I can’t wait to meet him,” Luke said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://softwolffeathers.tumblr.com/


	2. Black Moon Dancing

Luke had never been anywhere so beautiful in his life. He sat on the top of the picnic table, staring at the forest beyond the fence. Pineview National Forest was massive, Luke didn’t know how large exactly, but he knew it was big and wild. The forest stretched far and wide, but the most unique thing about it was that it circled the actual city of Pineview, even pushing into the city, making it the shape of a horseshoe. The part of the forest that pushed into the city had been tamed over the years, carved into city parks and sports fields complete with a couple lakes. Luke had been to several of the city parks, but they were nothing like the trees here at Fox’s house. 

Luke’s lilac-shaded eyes drank in all the details, and he wished that he was an artist or had a decent camera to take photos of the landscape stretched out in front of him, but he knew that whatever he created or captured, it would never match what he saw with his eyes. The trees in front of him were tall and thin, their branches full of green leaves and flocks of loud, singing birds. When the wind blew the birds would scatter into the air, riding the waves, before landing back among the branches.

“Don’t you have trees in the suburbs?”

Luke pursed his lips and looked at Grey who was standing at his shoulder now. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “But they aren’t like this. They’re all…tame, and this is wild.”

Grey chuckled and adjusted the orange-tinted sunglasses he was wearing. “Wild is the perfect word to describe it,” he said. 

Luke scooted around on the table, watching as Grey went to the grill to check on the meat that was cooking there. Collin and Fox had gone inside to watch television. The two Siberian huskies were lying in the shadow of the house, appearing to be asleep, but Luke could see their eyes watching the grill. 

“Do you see a lot of wild animals out here?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Grey said as he closed the grill and went to lean against the table. “The dogs are loud, so I don’t see a lot of animals out back, but we constantly have deer in the front yard in the mornings. And I’ve found bear tracks down by the mailbox at the end of the lane.”

“A bear?” Luke said with widened eyes. “That’s kind of scary, isn’t it?” He thought about the grizzly bear he’d seen at the zoo once. When it had stood on its back legs it had exceeded eight feet tall. Luke had felt like an insect standing on the other side of the glass as the bear sniffed at the air.

Grey grinned. “There are a lot of scary things in these woods.”

Luke shifted nervously. “But…people camp and hike here, right? Can it be that dangerous?”

“They camp and hike in designated areas,” Grey said. “But yeah, it can be that dangerous. Besides the usual animals, like bears and cougars and wolves, there are…the things that you don’t see until it’s too late.”

Luke shivered and dug his fingers into the fabric of his jeans. “What kind of things?”

Grey bit the inside of his lip before glancing toward the trees. “I haven’t really seen it but…sometimes you hear them at night. They…they sound…I can’t even describe it really.”

“Wh-what is it?” 

“From what I’ve heard from campers, that it comes at night, and all they see is this enormous shadow as it passes by their tents. They say it breathes real heavy and growls real low, like a bear but it’s not a bear. They don’t know what it is,” Grey said as he ran his hand through his monochrome hair. “No one has dared look at it, they’re too scared.”

“Has there been like…any…um, like, attacks? No one has seen it?”

“Last year a couple of hikers went missing. They never said that this thing got them, but there were suspicious foot prints on the path they had disappeared from.” Grey leaned close to Luke before glancing at the forest. “I haven’t told the others, but sometimes I hear something out there at night.”

Luke felt a shiver rush up his spine. “L-like close? But what is it?”

Grey looked at Luke, but he couldn’t stop a little smile from breaking his serious expression. He leaned back, shaking his head, and tried to cover his laughter with his hand.

It took Luke a second to catch on, and then he was shaking his head and scowling at Grey. He couldn’t be angry though, and a smile spread over his face. “You’re terrible! You were just fucking with me!”

“I couldn’t help it! You totally fell for it!” Grey said as he threw his head back and laughed, his voice echoing through the yard.

“No, I totally knew you were teasing me!” Luke lied badly. He blushed, embarrassed, but he didn’t feel stupid, which was normally his first reaction when someone laughed at him. But Grey wasn’t making fun of him; he was…having fun with him. It was a new experience to Luke, who had no real friends to speak of.

“No way, I totally got you,” Grey said as he roughed up Luke’s bright blond hair with his hand. The boy leaned away and playfully tried to shove him back. “Watch out for Big Foot, Luke, he’ll come for you tonight!”

“Big Foot,” Luke said with a roll of his eyes. “You probably don’t even go out there, do you? It’s probably just full of deer.”

Grey chuckled as he went to check the steaks on the grill. “We go out all the time, actually. I know my way around blindfolded. And there are animals, but they just want to avoid you. I’ll bring you out later, if you want. There’s an area not quite two miles that way that is really cool. The land just drops straight down into a huge valley. The forest stops dead and the whole area is just flat rock and huge boulders. It’s really cool, and you can see the moon and stars perfectly at night. We’ve spent a lot of nights there.”

“I just don’t see how you can go out there and know which directions to take to get back home! I can’t tell my east from my south if I had a compass and I’m always getting turned around. M-maybe that’s just me t-though,” Luke said with a nervous stutter. He picked at a rip in his jeans, pulling at the fabric. 

Grey patted his back. “Isn’t that typical for a little blond, though?”

Luke looked confused and offended for a second, before Grey laughed and winked at him from beneath his shades. “You know, I hear dying your hair kills brain cells.”

“It’s sweet that you assume I have brain cells to kill.”

Luke wrinkled his nose at Grey, who went to the house because he was suddenly hungry for grilled shrimp. He stared off into the forest when he thought he saw movement. He glanced at the dogs, who were asleep now, before slipping off the table. He walked slowly to the gate just as the shadow of a deer passed through the trees.

Without really thinking about it Luke stepped through the gate and walked toward the trees, his curiosity getting the better of him. A little voice of reason told him that going into the trees to see a deer wasn’t a good idea, but he’d never seen a deer before, not up close anyway. He told himself that he wouldn’t go far, he would just get glimpse and then go back to the house before Grey came back.

Glancing back to make sure he could still see the house, he walked through the trees, checking back every now and then to make sure he hadn’t gone too far. It was surprisingly open here, the trees were tall and the branches spread overhead like curtains of leaves blocking the sunlight, but it wasn’t dark here either. The ground was littered with heavy ferns and fallen branches and acorns and leaves and miscellaneous flora that Luke couldn’t identify. He just hoped it wasn’t poison ivy.

He stepped out from behind a tree and heard a stirring of leaves. He turned, heart stopping in his chest, and found himself staring at a white-tailed deer. It was a buck, smaller in size with a small rack of antlers. It was probably his first set. The deer stared at him with huge black eyes, and for a second, neither moved. It felt like an eternity, but it all happened in just a couple precious seconds.

Something hit Luke from behind and he landed face-first in the dirt with a gasp. Whatever hit him was heavy and it knocked the breath from his lungs. He didn’t see the deer run, too busy scrambling to roll over. The heavy weight left him and Luke sat up, finding himself face-to-face with an enormous black wolf.

For a moment Luke was again frozen, but instead of in awe of the beauty in front of him, it was out of pure terror. The wolf was like a hole in space, solid black with two piercing eyes that held Luke in its gaze. When his lungs started to burn Luke sucked in a breath, found his voice, and screamed.

…

At the house everyone heard the scream. Collin was the first one out the door and leaped the fence with ease, with Fox and Grey on his heels. Luke’s scent was easy to follow and Collin nearly collided with him as he ran through the trees. He caught Luke’s shoulders to steady him, and his brother stared at him with huge eyes. His face was white with fear, his lip was bleeding, and he had a cut on his hand. His knees were caked with dirt and mug and there were leaves sticking to his clothing. 

“Luke?” Collin gasped, giving his brother a shake. “Luke what happened?!”

Luke was quiet, his words stuck in his throat as he started to shake until he couldn’t control it. Collin looked over his brother’s shoulder and saw a black shadow moving through the trees, and he frowned, before pulling Luke close and leading him out of the tree-line.

Fox ran past them and into the trees, following the shadow. The wolf stopped when it heard Fox and turned to look at him, ears flat as Fox walked straight up to it. Fox didn’t hesitate and back-handed the wolf with a closed fist, hitting it hard enough that it sent it stepping back. The wolf growled, fur standing up on its back but didn’t lash out, instead it turned and darted into the forest. 

Grey frowned, hesitating, until Fox walked by him, heading back to the house. Then Grey jogged through the trees, calling out the wolf’s name.

“Raven,” he said with exasperated sigh, “just what happened?!”

Meanwhile Collin led Luke to the house, Luke finally managed to stumble over his words and told his brother what happened. Collin shook his head, taking Luke’s hand and checking the scrape for splinters and dirt. They went to the bathroom and Luke washed his hand and then let Collin bandage it.

“It’s just a scrape, it’ll be okay,” Collin said. “And you’re okay, right?” He stepped back, looking his brother over. There were blood stains on his knees, he had scraped them when he fell, but it wasn’t as bad as his hand, which he must have cut open on a rock.

“I guess so,” he said as he continued to tremble. He bit his lip hard, focusing on the new pain. His clothes were dirty and wet from the dirt and mud he’d fallen in. His back hurt terribly from being tackled onto the ground. “That was a wolf, wasn’t it?”

“I didn’t see it,” Collin lied. “It could have been anything. There are a lot of dogs around here.” He looked up as Fox stepped into the bathroom. 

“I bet I have some clean clothes you could wear,” Fox offered. “Come upstairs with me.”

As Luke and Fox headed up the stairs, Collin stormed outside and headed toward Grey and another teenage boy. He was lithe and lean, with long black straight hair that shined in the sunlight and olive skin. His eyes were so dark blue that they appeared black. He was wearing only tight black shorts, and his skin was still hot from his Change.

Raven tensed the moment he saw Collin, who bared his teeth and growled. Grey tried to get between the two of them before Collin reached Raven, but he was unsuccessful. 

“You asshole!” Collin shouted as he shoved Raven, who took a step back and narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You could have killed him!”

“Collin, calm down,” Grey said, putting a hand on Raven’s shoulder to hold him back. Raven grunted and shook Grey’s hand off. “It was an accident and—“

“Accident,” Collin scoffed as he scowled at the two. He narrowed his eyes. “Well, say something, Raven. What the fuck were you doing?”

“Hunting, obviously,” Raven said. “Your pup got in the way.”

Collin made another move to get at Raven and Grey got between them, getting slammed back into Raven who didn’t move. With two growling wolves on either side of him, Grey felt like he was getting no where in keeping them from ripping each other to shreds. He put his hands on Collin’s chest and shoved him to the ground. 

“Someone should have been watching him,” Raven said. 

Grey felt a ping of guilt in his chest. “I just left him for a second.”

“Look, just stop,” Collin said as he pushed to his feet. He glared at Grey, who stepped back, and then looked at Raven. “It’s over, he’s fine. We need to get along.”

“Why?” Raven asked with a frown.

“Luke’s got the curse, too,” Collin said. “He’s going to be coming around here more often. I haven’t…told him about any of this shit yet. So don’t even look at him wrong or I’ll—“

“Yeah, we know, go inside,” Grey interrupted. “Raven and I will get the steaks off the grill. Go inside and set the table and check on Luke.”

Collin nodded and headed for the house, going through the squeaky door and stepping into the kitchen. He knew that Fox and Luke were upstairs, so he busied himself setting the six-person table that was in their kitchen. Focusing on the food helped cool his head. 

He had just pulled the baked potatoes out of the oven when he’d heard Luke scream. He went to finish with them now, putting the potatoes on a plate and on the table along with containers of sour cream, butter, barbeque sauce, some shredded cheese and ketchup. There was also sweet corn and baked beans. All that was left was the steaks and shrimp kabobs from the grill.

Upstairs Fox was doing his best to talk to Luke. The boy had been immediately interested in everything in his bedroom, from his dreamcatchers to the random animal bones he had collected, including a bison skull on his wall. As Luke looked around Fox went through his closet until he found an old hoodie that was too small for him. It was red with little white start on it.

“Here,” he said, tossing the shirt to Luke. “I don’t think I have any pants that’ll fit you though.”

Luke pulled off his dirty sweatshirt and then tugged on the hoodie, which was warm and soft and smelled like cotton-scented laundry detergent. He looked down at his pants, just now noticing his dirty knees and the blood stains. “I didn’t even notice that.”

Fox chuckled. “It must not hurt too much then, huh?”

“Mostly my back hurts,” Luke admitted. “That wolf, dog, whatever, tackled me pretty good.”

“I’m sure I have aspirin around here somewhere.”

“That’s okay,” Luke said with a shrug as he shoved his hands into the pockets of the hoodie. “I think I’ll be okay. I’m just…um. Well, I’m okay.”

Fox smiled. Luke was scared, his scent was thick with it, but he admired the boy’s determination to look brave. “I smell lunch, so let’s go downstairs, okay?” he said, putting his hand on the boy’s back and guiding him out of the room and downstairs.

The rest of the pack was there and Fox was relieved when he saw Collin and Raven were both in one piece. Raven had changed his clothes, now wearing jeans and a black t-shirt that hugged his slender frame. His feet were bare.

Raven looked at Luke, and only nodded at him before turning away.

Fox, Collin and Luke sat on one side of the table, with Grey sitting across from Fox and Raven sat down across from Luke. Everyone reached for food at once, filling their plates with steaks and shrimp, corn and potatoes and beans. Luke sat watching, seeming to hesitate, before Collin nudged him with his elbow.

“Eat, Luke,” he said, “you’re too skinny.”

“What are you, my mother?”

“You do have the hair for it, Collin,” Grey quipped with a grin.

“And the figure,” Fox added.

Collin blushed. “You guys are assholes.”

Luke laughed quietly and finally helped himself to the food. He stole several glanced at Raven, who far hadn’t glared at him, wished him dead, or told him to fuck off. When Raven caught him staring Luke bit his tongue and asked him to pass the ketchup.

…

Later that evening Luke sat on the couch in the living room, playing video games with Grey, who sat on the floor with his back to the couch. They had been playing for the last hour and a half, and so far, Grey had kicked his ass at everything. At first Luke had been annoyed, but now he was doing everything he could to distract Grey from his focus. 

The couch shifted as Collin stood up, saying something about being hungry. Dunri and Dashi looked up from their dog beds in the corner, but neither moved, instead curling against one another and going back to sleep. They’d had a very busy day playing outside with Luke. 

“You’re seriously hungry?” Luke asked as he hit the buttons on the controller as hard as possible. Surely that would make the gun shooter faster! “Crap!”

“I’m hungry, too!” Grey said loudly without looking away from the television.

“Me, too.”

“And me,” said Raven.

Luke glanced up, not realizing Raven had been standing behind the couch, watching him and Grey play games. One second later he heard his character scream and die.

“You’re dead, Luke,” Grey said and flashed him a bright grin over his shoulder.

“Good, I need a break anyway,” he said, setting the controller on the floor. He stood up and stretched as Grey changed the game to one-player. Luke rolled his shoulders and then walked into the kitchen where his brother was. “So what are you making?”

“Frozen pizzas,” Collin said as he pulled two from the freezer. “Are you sure you aren’t hungry?”

“Um, well,” Luke said as he bit his fingernail. “What kind do you have?”

“Beef with cheese stuffed crust and meat-lovers.”

“Oh, yeah, I want some.”

Collin laughed and opened the frozen pizzas and put them on round pans before slipping them into the pre-heated oven. He paused and went back to the freezer, fetching a bag of boneless chicken wings and put some in the oven as well.

Luke leaned back against the kitchen counter. “So are we going home tonight?”

Collin looked surprised. “Oh, well probably not, I guess I just assumed you would be okay spending the night. Is that okay with you, or did you want me to bring you home?”

He quickly shook his head. “No, I was just wondering, since we hadn’t talked about it, and since we didn’t bring any extra clothes or anything.” 

“If you need clothes to sleep in, I can get you something,” Grey said as he walked into the kitchen. Luke hadn’t realized the other boy had gotten up. Grey reached around Collin for the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of iced tea. “Want something to drink, Luke?”

“Um, sure,” he said and accepted a bottle of cherry flavored water from Grey. “And sure, that’s cool, if it’s cool with you. I mean, letting me borrow the clothes.”

Grey grinned at Luke’s flustered words, finding the boy cute. He hadn’t known Luke at all before this day. Sure, he knew that he was Collin’s little brother, and he’d seen him around school, but he’d never talked to him before. Now he wished that Collin had brought Luke around sooner, even before they knew he had the curse. There was something about him, something special, and Grey looked forward to spending more time with him.

“I’ll call Dan and Mary and tell them we won’t be coming back tonight. Go with Grey and find something to wear so I can wash the blood out of your pants. If we go home and Mary sees that, she’ll skin me. Or she’ll try,” Collin said with a smirk.

“Okay,” Luke said and followed Grey to his bedroom, which was the first door down the hall on the first floor of the house. The second door was to the bathroom and the third to Raven’s bedroom. Luke wondered if Fox’s parent’s bedroom was upstairs. He knew that’s where Fox’s bedroom was, but he hadn’t seen another bedroom.

Grey switched on the nearest lamp and invited Luke in. His bedroom was probably the busiest of them all, full of posters and art and his drum-set. He had a king-sized bed which was loaded with big fluffy blankets and pillows. There was a large dreamcatcher hanging in one corner, decorated with grey and blue feathers, with wind-chimes hanging from the bottom of it. Grey motioned him over to his dresser, where he opened the top drawer, which was full of pajama pants, shorts and boxers. “Pick out whatever.”

Luke avoided the boxers and the shorts, going instead for the pajama pants. He pulled out a pair that was black with grey and pink stripes. He paused before telling himself to get over being shy and shook out of his jeans and quickly pulled on the soft, loose pants. 

“So are you having fun?” Grey asked as he sat on the top of his desk.

“Yeah, lots of fun,” Luke said as he sat down on Grey’s bed. “Well, I mean, besides almost becoming dinner for a wolf. Besides that, yeah, lots of fun.”

Grey smiled and said, “Hey, be happy it wasn’t a skunk.”

“I guess that’s true.” He looked around before focusing back on Grey. “So you and Fox are cousins?”

Grey tilted his head. Luke was part of the pack, even if he didn’t know it yet. Grey didn’t want to start off the relationship by contributing to a continuing, but necessary lie. “Actually no, we aren’t. That’s just something that…we came up with when I came to live here. It was the easiest lie.”

A wrinkle formed between Luke’s eyebrows and his mouth parted in surprise. “I don’t get it. What do you mean?”

“I was um, homeless,” Grey said with a little frown. “It’s all kind of complicated, and it’s a long story. But it is a secret, so don’t tell anyone outside of this house, okay?”

Luke nodded quickly as he tugged on the sleeves of his hoodie. “I won’t tell, I promise! But that’s…well, I don’t want to, you know. I’m just glad you’re here.”

That made Grey smile and caused pink to stain his cheeks. “You’re adorable.”

Luke wrinkled his nose. “You guys say a lot of weird things.”

“It’s a weird household, Luke.”

…

Collin was pressed back against the refrigerator, too caught up in Fox’s persistent kisses to notice the oven timer was beeping. He didn’t much care either. His fingers were buried in Fox’s scruffy brown hair, gently pulling in encouragement as the alpha leaned his strong body against Collin, trapping him against the appliance behind him.

Fox’s hands ran up Collin’s hips and over his stomach, then down to the waistband of his jeans, hooking into his leather belt. He wanted his hands in Collin’s pants, but the little voice of reason in his mind told him that it wasn’t a good time for that. He hated that little voice sometimes. 

When Fox bit Collin’s lip, the fingers in his hair pulled in the delicious way he liked. Fox nipped him again before deepening the kiss, his tongue sliding past Collin’s plump lips. The kiss was readily received, Collin tilting his head and pushing against Fox.

Fox slid one hand up to Collin’s long pale hair, fisting it, making the other boy gasp, and went for his throat. He could feel Collin’s pulse beneath his lips and bit down, hard enough to leave an indent of teeth. Collin made another sound, soft and whiney.

“It’ll be nice,” Fox said between kisses, “to be able to do this all the time, when you move in.”

Collin hesitated and gave Fox’s hair a pull until the boy raised his head. Their lips met again, teeth clacking together. He practically already lived here, but he wanted to make it his permanent residence. The problem was that he wasn’t eighteen yet, and he knew if he just up and left that Dan and Mary would call the police, they would get involved with the pack’s life, and that would cause problems. Huge problems.

He needed leverage to hold against them, but he had none.

“That pizza better not be burning!”

Fox jerked back as Grey’s loud voice came up the hallway. He stepped away from Collin, but not before giving him a lustful look, and walked to the oven and turning off the beeping timer and grabbing an oven mitt to fetch the food.

Collin turned away for a moment, trying to regain some composure. His lips were pink and swollen from kisses, and his neck was sore and red from Fox sucking on it. His face felt hot and he was sure he was blushing up to the tips of his ears. He pulled his hair forward over his shoulder to hopefully hide his neck. He looked up and caught Grey’s blue eyes as he walked in with Luke. Grey grinned at him, taking in his disheveled appearance, before guiding Luke into the kitchen to get plates from the cupboard.

This time they settled in the living room to eat their food. Fox turned the television on to an old action movie and everyone settled around the coffee table, either sitting on the sofa or the floor. Dashi snuggled up against Grey’s side, waiting for leftovers, and Dunri sat himself at Luke’s feet, even going so far to rest his chin on the boy’s knee.

It worked and he got the crust of the pizza slices that Luke ate.

They stayed up watching movies until the early morning hours. Luke fell asleep on the sofa, curled up on one side with a blanket thrown over him, and Collin slumped back against Fox, asleep shortly after. Fox and Grey were the only ones to make it until the movie was over, because Raven had given up on staying awake and had curled up in his chair, a blanket pulled up to his shoulders.

Grey moved to sit up from where he’d been stretched out on the floor and reached to the turn off the television. The only light source was from the kitchen, but the two didn’t need help seeing in the darkness. He pushed to his feet and stretched.

“Collin and Luke can use my bed,” Fox said as he carefully detangled himself from Collin and stood up. Raven woke the moment they had started talking and was up and heading for his bedroom already. Grey was putting the video games away so no one would stop on a controller and break it.

Fox turned to Collin and pressed his lips against his cheek. “Collin,” he whispered.

“Hm?” he grunted as he slowly started to wake.

He smiled. “You’re so cute when you’re sleepy,” Fox said and resisted the temptation to kiss Collin again. “You and Luke can use my bed, okay?”

Collin brushed a long lock of pale hair back over his shoulder and nodded. He stood and paused, looking out one of the huge windows in the living room. Out in the darkness silver light pulsed up behind the trees. The moon was high in the sky, readying to decent and fall so the sun could rise. Collin felt a tingle up his spine, the need to go out there, to be a wolf, to run on four legs through the trees and chase the moon.

But not now, not tonight. He reached down and shook Luke’s shoulder. “If you sleep here all night you’ll regret it, now come on,” he said as Luke tried to pull the blanket over his head. Finally his brother stumbled to his feet and Collin followed him up the stairs to the bedroom.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Fox said when they reached the room.

Collin nodded. “See you in the morning.”

Fox kissed him, soft and tender, before turning and walking away. Collin watched him go with moonlight caught in his brown eyes, before he went inside the bedroom and closed the door. Luke had already collapsed on the bed and was asleep. Collin smiled, dropping into bed next to him and pulling the blankets up over the two of them.

The window was open and outside Collin could hear the hoot of an owl and the song call of the moon. He rolled over, burying his face into the pillow that smelled like his mate. It relaxed him and lulled him to sleep. He closed his eyes and let himself go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://softwolffeathers.tumblr.com/


	3. Packmates

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“I’m sure.”

“But what if that wolf comes back?”

“The wolf won’t come back.”

Luke sighed heavily, shoving his hands in the pockets of the hoodie he was borrowing from Fox. He stubbed his toe into the dirt and then sighed, stepping after his brother. Collin smiled triumphantly and waited for Luke to reach his side before they walked toward the trees, going a different direction than Luke took yesterday.

“So where are we going?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise.”

Luke pursed his lips and jumped over a fallen branch while following Collin through the trees. It was still early morning and the sun was rising behind them, shining bright and gold through the leaves. They cut across the heavy, dense forest until they came across a well-used hiking trail. Luke’s legs were burning by this time, this was more of a workout than anything he’d done before, including physical education in school.

“I’m getting tired,” Luke complained as he tugged off the hoodie and tied it around his waist, leaving him in a t-shirt and shorts. He ran his hand through his hair and wasn’t surprised to find it sweaty and messy.

“Suck it up,” Collin laughed as he followed the familiar trail. “You’ll thank me when we get there.” He adjusted the backpack he was carrying on his shoulder. 

Luke shrugged and glanced up, just now seeming to notice the beauty around them. He paused, looking back over his shoulder. The leaves glowed gold with the help of the rising sun, and the light streamed between the branches, casting spot-lights on the ground around them. Birds were singing; squirrels were rushing up and down the tree trunks. The trees were huge, tall and thick with branches stretching up and out like open arms.

Collin had stopped walking the moment Luke had. He watched his brother as he turned in a slow circle, staring at the magnificence around him. Collin knew that feeling of awe very well; he felt it every time he went through this forest. It was even more spectacular when he was in his wolf skin, when he could smell the world around him and his wolfen eyes saw everything. When he was a wolf he saw the world in a whole new way.

“There’s a deer,” Collin whispered as he stepped beside Luke. He pointed through the trees to the delicate doe that was picking her way through the ferns and underbrush. 

“She’s so pretty,” Luke said as he watched her. 

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Collin said as he tugged on Luke’s arm. They continued on the path for another mile before the sound of water reached Collin’s ears. He grinned and glanced at Luke before he led him out of the trees and onto slate rock.

Luke’s eyes widened and his jaw fell. They were standing on the edge of a wide, but short waterfall. The waterfall fell into a blue and clear and perfect pool. The trees grew right up to the creek and the pool below, but left the open sky open above them.

“Want to go for a swim?” Collin asked as he walked to the rock edge where the creek fell over the falls and into the pool below. He kicked off his shoes and socks and tugged off his shirt, tossing them all together with the backpack on the dry rock. He walked into the creek, which at the top of the waterfall was only about knee-deep. 

“I’m not a great swimmer,” Luke said as he slowly took off his shoes and socks.

“It’s safe,” Collin promised with a smile. “Come on.”

Luke striped off his shirt and was glad he had borrowed a pair of Grey’s shorts, though they were too big and he’d had to tighten his belt quite a bit to keep them on. He left his clothing with Collin’s and then slowly stepped into the water. It was going at a much slower pace than it looked. The rocks beneath his toes were slick, but he never felt like he was going to lose his footing or fall.

“Ready to jump?” Collin asked.

“Jump? We’re jumping?” Luke said with a nervous frown.

Collin grinned and took Luke’s hand, leading him to the edge of the waterfall. “Don’t worry; I’ve done this hundreds of times. So, are you ready?”

He nodded shakily, squeezing Collin’s hand. On the count of three they jumped, Luke yelled and Collin laughed before they hit the water below. The water was cold and Luke came up gasping and then laughed as Collin surfaced beside him. 

“See! That wasn’t so bad was it?” Collin said as he floated in the blue water. The sun was rising above the trees and soon the water would be warm and crystal clear. 

“It was awesome! I want to do it again!” Luke said as he swam to the shore and carefully made his way back up the rocks to the top of waterfall. With his heart in his throat he approached the edge, took a deep breath, and jumped.

Collin floated on his back, keeping a close eye on Luke who continued to jump down the waterfall and then climb back up the rocks again. Everything here was so perfect and bright with color. The water was a vibrant blue, the trees were shades of bright, lush green, and the rocks were grey and covered in green moss. Even though the creek and waterfall were along a popular hiking path, not many people stopped to follow the sound of water, so the swimming hole was often void of visitors.

“This is my new favorite place,” Luke said. “Can we live here?”

Collin laughed. “No, but we can come here whenever you want,” he said as he kicked water at Luke. “Maybe next time we’ll go to Geode Lake. We can fish there, and then grill up whatever we catch back at the house.”

“That sounds great, too!” Luke said. He dove down under the water, diving until he reached the bottom and then kicked back to the surface. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone swimming, other than in school for physical education, which wasn’t fun at all. This was a lot more fun, and Luke didn’t want to ever leave.

He surfaced and laughed, rubbing his hands over his face.

“What’s so funny?” Collin asked.

“My face hurts from smiling too much.”

They swam for hours before they decided to take a break and eat. They sat on the dry rocks at the top of the falls in the sunlight, eating the sandwiches and chips and fruit that Collin had packed for them. Luke downed one bottle of water easily and reached for a second one while grabbing a Ziploc bag of orange slices mixed with chunks of pineapple.

Collin popped a handful of grapes into his mouth before grabbing the backpack and going through it until he found what he wanted. He looked at Luke, who was staring at the sky, he nudged Luke’s knee with his foot. Luke turned his attention to Collin as he pulled a bag full of chunky chocolate chip cookies out of the backpack and waved them in Luke’s face.

“I want them all.”

…

Luke was exhausted when he and Collin walked back to the house. It was a long walk, and Luke had swum until Collin decided it was time to head back to the house. Now his legs ached and his arms were tired and he was yawning and blinking his eyes tiredly.

The dogs greeted them at the back gate and Luke stopped to pet them before following Collin into the house.

Grey was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework. He looked up when the two boys entered, along with the two dogs, which ran for their food dish. “Hey guys. Have fun?”

“Yeah,” Luke said cheerfully as he stopped to kick off his shoes. His hair and clothing had dried on the walk back from the creek, but he wanted to change out of them and into his own clothing. He went into the laundry room off the kitchen to see if his jeans and t-shirt were clean. He opened the dryer and dug around for his clothes.

“Grey, do you want me to throw your clothes in the wash?” Luke asked as he peered out of the laundry room.

“Naw, just toss them in the corner, I’ll wash them later.”

“Okay.” He quickly changed his clothing in the privacy of the small room and then set Grey’s shorts and shirt in the corner and went back out. He was yawning again as he walked back into the kitchen. Collin was sitting at the table with Grey who was drinking a strawberry soda. 

“If you’re that tired, you can take a nap,” Collin said with a little smile.

Luke ran his fingers through his tangled hair and had to stop himself from yawning again. “Maybe I’ll just lay down for a little bit,” he said as he walked into the living room. He didn’t see Fox or Raven anywhere, so he stretched out on the couch. He got comfortable and glanced at the television, but he was asleep before the first commercial break.

“I think he likes it here,” Collin said after Luke had fallen asleep. “I haven’t seen him so happy in a long time.”

“I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time,” Grey said with a grin.

Collin smile and shrugged. He took a drink from Grey’s soda and leaned back in his chair. “I shouldn’t have cut him out of my life,” he said. “Even if he hadn’t developed the curse, I shouldn’t have done what I did. It wasn’t right.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Grey agreed. “But you were just trying to do what you thought was right. Being what we are…nothing is ever easy.”

Collin let Luke sleep for an hour before he went to wake him. Luke woke with a little snort and stretched, yawning loudly before sitting up and looking around. 

“Nice nap?”

“Yeah, I feel pretty good,” he said. “But I had a dream that I forgot to do my homework and my teacher made me eat live goldfish.”

Collin wrinkled his nose. “Those poor fish.”

“That’s what I thought,” Luke said as he stood up with his brother. Grey had finished his homework and Fox was home from his trip to the city for groceries.

Luke frowned as he looked at his hand, the one that he had fallen and cut open when the wolf had tackled him in the trees yesterday. While swimming the bandage had come off, revealing fresh, healed skin. How was that even possible? 

“Do you have homework to do?”

“Yeah,” Luke said with a frown. 

“We should probably go in a couple hours then,” Collin said.

“Aw man,” Grey whined as he walked in the front door. “Don’t leave.”

Grey was shirtless, barefoot and sweating. Collin tilted his head. “What’s up?”

“Football,” he said. “Me and Luke against you and Fox.”

Luke looked a little alarmed. “I suck at sports.”

“That’s why you got me!” Grey said as he pointed his thumb at his chest. “Let’s go!” 

…

Luke didn’t want to go home. He didn’t want to go so badly that he almost whined about it once he and Collin were in the car. But while he didn’t verbally express his feelings, he couldn’t help but hunch his shoulders and stare out the window with a forlorn expression as the forest was left behind and they were merging onto the interstate and heading for the suburbs.

“You don’t have to look so sad,” Collin said with a glance at his brother. “You can come with me whenever I come out here.”

Luke looked at his brother. “I’m sure the guys would get sick me if that happened.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Collin said with a roll of his eyes. 

“What about Fox’s parents?” he asked.

“They’re almost never there,” Collin said. “So don’t expect to see them. Fox and Grey and Raven pretty much take care of themselves.”

Luke drummed his fingers on his knee. “Grey said that…he and Fox weren’t actually cousins. That it was a lie, and that he was homeless at one time. Is that true?”

He was quiet for a second before nodding. “Yeah.”

“But why lie about being related? Couldn’t Fox’s parents just adopt him?”

“It’s complicated,” Collin said. “And I don’t think I should tell you without Fox or Grey around, you know? It’s their business. Just don’t worry about it too much.”

Luke nodded and glanced out the window. The sun was near the horizon and set the sky ablaze with bright shades of orange and red and yellow, which were slowly mixing with darkness as it creeped over the sky from the East. 

“When we get home will you help me with my homework?”

“Sure.” 

The streets were empty and quiet as Collin parked his beat-up red Chevy in the driveway. “Just brace yourself,” he wanted Luke as they walked to the house, “they’re gonna be pissed.”

“I’m usually not on this side of the fighting,” Luke said as he curled his fingers and gripped the sleeves of Fox’s hoodie. He’d forgotten he was wearing it until they had left the house. 

Collin opened the door for Luke and then followed him inside. Immediately their parents were there, demanding to know just where they were and what Collin thought he was doing, dragging his little brother into such dangers. What dangers, Luke didn’t know. He stood at Collin’s shoulder, staring at his shoes, because it was all he could think to do. 

He was surprised at how quiet Collin was, he expected yelling and fighting and snide remarks, but Collin seemed as tired as himself, and just wanted to get the confrontation done with. Dan demanded to see their eyes to see if they were high, threatened to buy a breathalyzer to test them, and finally demanded the keys to Collin’s car. Luke was shocked when Collin handed them over.

“I have spare keys hidden everywhere,” Collin said as he and Luke headed upstairs. He paused at his bedroom and said, “I’ll help you with that homework after I shower.”

“Sounds good.” Luke headed into his bedroom and changed into a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt, before pulling Fox’s hoodie back on. He would return it, absolutely, but it was so warm and smelled nice. It couldn’t hurt to wear it until tomorrow, right?

He found his backpack on the floor where he’d left it, and picked it up, dropping it onto the bed and started going through it. He pulled out his text books and notebooks, frowning as he sorted through what homework needed done. Suddenly he wished he had brought his homework with him to Fox’s house, because Grey was an absolute genius—which had been shocking. Looking at Grey, Luke would have never thought him to be a brilliant, 4.0, top-of-the-class student.

Before getting comfortable on the bed with his homework strewn out everywhere, Luke went and opened his window to let the breeze in, and then switched his iPod to his favorite playlist. He had stopped, attention grabbed by something outside the window, when he heard his bedroom door open.

“Hey—oh,” he said as he turned around, expecting to see Collin, but seeing Dan instead.

The man had been drinking, Luke could tell even before he could smell him. Dan had always been a drinker, but it had become a worse and worse problem after Dan had lost his job when Luke was seven, and had bounced around between jobs.

Dan stepped into the bedroom and glanced at the homework on the bed. “You have all this homework to do, Luke? And you just decided to neglect it to run off with your brother for an entire weekend? That’s not very responsible, is it?”

“It’s really not that much,” Luke said with a little shrug. 

Dan smacked his hand down on the dresser with a loud slam, making Luke jump and step back in surprise. “I will not have you become a delinquent like your worthless brother.”

“He’s—he’s not worthless,” Luke stuttered, staring at the man in shock. “And I-I’m not a delinquent either. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No?” he sneered as he stepped forward. His steps were sluggish but his aura was menacing, making Luke step back again. “Mary and I have tried so hard to raise the two of you, and it wasn’t easy. You’ve always been trouble. Both of you. Worthless and irresponsible.”

Luke felt his face get hot. He frowned and stared at his feet before shaking his head. “We didn’t do anything wrong,” he said again, his voice softer.

“Nothing wrong?” Dan said with a sneer. “You disappeared! You could have been dead for all we knew! And who knows just what you were doing. Were you at that club with your brother? I’ve heard of what goes on at the club.”

“I’ve never been there,” Luke said, “I don’t even know where it is. And we-we didn’t even do anything wrong, Dan, we—“

Dan shook his head, his face reddening, before he swiped his arm over the top of the dresser and knocking the lamp there to the floor with a crash. “Stop fucking lying!” Dan shouted. He shook his head as redness spread over his face and neck and the vein in his forehead seemed to throb. He scowled at the little blond in front of him.

“I’m going to have to teach you a lesson,” he said. “So you don’t end up the loser like your brother. You brought this upon yourself Luke. You’re forcing me to do this.”

Before Luke could even absorb the words Dan had grabbed him by the arm and jerked him forward, only to hit hard across the face with the back of his hand. Luke gasped as his head whipped to the side, pain radiating through his face. He jerked back, trying to break free, when John him again, harder, and this time Luke tasted blood from a cut inside his cheek.

Luke was about to yell for help when John was being pulled away from him with a surprised gasp. Luke slumped onto his knees, watching as John was thrown across the floor and landed against the wall a loud grunt. Collin stood between them, his hands clenched into fists and his shoulders heaving with every breath he took.

“Don’t you EVER fucking touch him again!” Collin shouted as loud as he could. He shook his head, his wet hair bouncing down his back. He started to shake as anger pooled in his stomach and started to spread through his limbs. He felt a growl rumble in his chest. 

The fight was interrupted by both Luke and Mary. Luke got to his feet and dove for Collin, grabbing his wrist, terrified that Collin was going to hit Dan again, and Mary ran up the stairs and stop at her husband’s side. Her eyes flickered from Dan, to Luke’s bruised face, and Collin’s protective stance, before she looked back to Dan, her expression one of shock.

“This isn’t over,” Dan snarled as he stood, shaking Mary off his arm when she tried to help him. He opened his mouth, looking like he was going to say something more, but when he met Collin’s eyes he hesitated and shook his head. He turned and took Mary by the arm and together they walked down the hallway and descended the stairs.

Luke swallowed hard and stared at his brother’s trembling back. He still had his fingers wrapped around Collin’s wrist, and when he pulled his hand back, Collin turned quickly and grabbed his hand. His other hand came up and cupped Luke’s face, staring at the blossoming bruises.

“I’m okay,” Luke said and tried to force a smile, hoping the fury in Collin’s eyes would dim. There was something in Collin’s eyes, something feral and wild, and it frightened him. He bit his lip and shook his head. “A-are you?”

Collin blinked and stepped back, taking a deep breath. He had to focus, to push the animal inside him back down. He’d been on the edge of Changing, and he probably would have, if Luke hadn’t grabbed his wrist. 

He looked at his little brother, and gave his hand a squeeze. “Thank you,” he said, sounding exhausted.

“For what?” Luke asked, thinking it should have been the other way around.

“For stopping me,” he said and sighed heavily. _I would have killed him. I would have sprayed the walls with his blood._ Collin tried to give Luke a little smile. “Why don’t you grab your homework and stuff and come into my room? I’ll help you there.”

He nodded, letting Collin’s hand go, and went to his room. First he salvaged the lamp, setting it on his green chair to reassemble later, and then grabbed his backpack and books and went to Collin’s room. Collin was brushing his hair and staring out the window when Luke entered the room and closed the door behind him.

Luke dropped his bag to the floor and sat down on the fluffy rug by the bed. Collin joined him a minute later and seemed have calmed down. He looked at Luke again before frowning and pulling out his cell phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking a picture.”

“For what?” Luke asked with a start and leaning away.

“Leverage.”

Luke let Collin take several pictures of the bruises on his face before they turned their attention to the homework set out in front of them. Collin’s thoughts were somewhere else though, and after a couple minutes he got up and left the bedroom.

He sat stiff, listening, waiting for what he didn’t know. He hoped Collin was going to start a fight; he didn’t need that stress right now. He was already wound up tight, his hands still trembled and his brain was buzzing with static. He sighed, pressing his palm against the bruises on his face, and hoped they wouldn’t bring too much attention tomorrow.

The bedroom door opened and Collin stepped in carrying two bowls of ice cream. Luke reached for one and smiled happily, thanking Collin who sat back down across from him on the floor. He mixed the vanilla and chocolate ice cream together before taking a bite.

…

“I wish there was someplace we could just escape to.”

Collin looked up, his chocolate-brown eyes deep in thought. They had been finished their ice cream and had been working on homework for the last hour. He tilted his head. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” Luke said as he chewed on his pen. He shrugged and leaned back on his hands, looking at his brother. “I’m just so tired all the time. I don’t know if it’s me, or this place, or a combination of both. Maybe I’m just being bitchy.”

Collin pursed his lips as his heart pounded in his chest. “Luke, um,” he said, voice catching for a moment as he tried to sort out his words. “We could always live with Fox.”

Luke laughed. “I’m sure his parents would love that.”

“No, seriously,” Collin said. “Luke. I’m being serious.”

He frowned and stared at his brother. “Collin we can’t…we can’t do that, can we? I mean, neither of us is eighteen and oh my God, if we left, imagine how crazy they would get! They hate it when we leave for a weekend, but to-to never come back? They’d snap. And besides, I doubt those guys would want me around that much.”

Collin shook his head. “Just think about it, okay?”

Luke frowned, his lilac-eyes glimmering in the low lights of the bedroom. “What?”

“You heard me,” Collin said as he picked up Luke’s math notebook. He clucked his tongue and shook his head. He’d braided his hair and it hung over his shoulder. “How the hell did you get this answer?”

Luke blinked twice before he looked at the scribbles on his notebook. He didn’t answer at first, too lost in his own daydreams. What if they did move out? What if Fox’s parents didn’t care about two more people living in the house? It was a big house. Would he and Collin share a bedroom? That would be okay with Luke. He rolled his tongue in his mouth, pushing it against the cut in his cheek and winced.

Yes, he would have to think about it.

“Luke?”

“Hm? Oh,” he shook his head and scooted closer to Collin. “Yeah, I got no idea.”

…

In the morning Collin woke Luke early. He grumbled about it, trying burrow down into the blankets and hiding under the pillows. Collin left him for a few minutes, dressing for school and gathering his books and homework, before coming back. He nudged the lump under the blankets with his foot until Luke sat up and glared at him.

“Get up, let’s go.”

“Why are we up so early? It’s not a long drive,” he whined as he flopped back down onto the bed dramatically.

“I’m taking you out for breakfast,” Collin said cheerfully.

Luke perked up. “You’re driving me to school?” Normally Mary took him on her way to work. It was usually a quiet, tense drive, broken with moments of paranoia and rants from her, or worse, having to listen to her argue with the political station she liked to listen to on the radio in the morning. 

“Yeah,” Collin said with a grin. “Now get dressed, grab your shit, and let’s go!”

Luke stumbled over his feet as he quickly changed his clothing, brushed his teeth and did his hair (which was just running a comb through it) and then grabbed his backpack. He tugged on Fox’s hoodie and met Collin in the hallway.

“That was fast,” Collin said with a laugh.

“Well, not all of us have to, um, well,” he said as he motioned at his brother. Collin had brushed and combed out his long, pale-blond hair before braiding a long rope so it crowned his head, making him look like a hippie. He was wearing tight jeans, a grey and black plaid button-up shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves. On his wrists he wore leather cuffs to hide his scars and an assortment of bracelets. He was wearing eyeliner and mascara and had painted his nails black. 

“Jealous,” Collin teased as he turned, heading down the stairs. Dan was gone, but Mary was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and checking her phone. She looked up when the two boys walked through and stood up with a start.

“Luke!” she all but shouted, “Where are you going?”

“Collin is driving me,” he said as he paused to pull on his shoes. 

She frowned and shook her head. “That isn’t a good idea.”

“It’s a brilliant idea,” Collin snapped as he produced a spare key for his car and grabbed Luke’s wrist, tugging him out the door behind him.

Luke dropped his bag in the backseat and then sat in the passenger seat. Collin peeled out of the driveway and out the suburbs. Pineview City was only a twenty-minute drive, and they had plenty of time before school. Luke yawned.

“So where are we going for breakfast?” he asked as his stomach rumbled.

“Roger’s Waffle House,” he said as he slipped on his sunglasses. The sun was breaking through the clouds and cutting through the crisp morning air. He hummed to the radio.

Luke had never been there, but he hadn’t been to a lot of places. He stared out the window until they were in the city and cutting through traffic before taking an exit. It was all a blur to Luke; he was tired and terrible with directions. They pulled into the parking lot of a rustic, country-themed restaurant.

“They have the best waffles here,” Collin said as he led Luke into the restaurant. They were seated in a booth near the back and given menus.

“You’re buying, right?” Luke asked as he flipped through the breakfast menu. “Cause I’m flat broke.”

Collin snorted. “Oh, you mean after all those talks on money responsibility you still went out and blew it all on cocaine and hookers?”

He laughed loudly. “You got me.”

“I knew it, you little slut,” Collin said with a bright grin. 

“I don’t know what to order,” Luke said. “It all looks really good and I’m really hungry.”

“Well, here comes the waitress, so make a decision,” Collin said.

“You order first,” he said as the waitress approached the table.

Collin shook his head at him before greeting the waitress with a charming smile. He ordered two fried eggs, bacon and sausage, with hash-browns and toast, orange slices and coffee to drink. 

“And for you, dear?” the woman asked with a soft smile to Luke.

He felt his ears warm and looked at the menu again. “Um, the French toast breakfast, please. With scrambled eggs, bacon, and the orange slices, too.”

“And to drink?” 

“Orange juice.”

The waitress left with their menus and orders and Collin sent a few quick text messages before focusing his attention back to Luke, who was staring out the window.

“Next time we’ll invite the other guys,” Collin said. “Fox loves this place.”

“Sure,” Luke said. He tapped his fingers on the table top. “So…um.”

“Yeah?”

“Fox,” Luke said. “He’s like, your best friend, right?”

Collin tilted his head, something flickering in his eyes. “Yeah.”

“He’s the one I met in the hospital,” Luke said. “After your…attempt.”

“I don’t remember that,” Collin said with a little frown.

Luke chewed his lip. “You were sedated,” he said. “I was with you. I didn’t want to leave. I threw…a huge fit and Dan and Mary left me alone with you while they went to talk to the doctor. I don’t know how he got past the nurses, but suddenly he was there, too. He looked like he’d been crying.”

Collin felt a painful twist in his chest, like someone was sticking needles into his heart. Familiar guilt washed over him and he released a shaky breath. “I never apologized to you, did I? For what I tried to do.”

“Why would you apologize to me?” Luke asked.

“Because it was selfish of me to do it,” he said as he picked at the cuffs on his wrists. The scars had never faded from his pale wrists. It had been a surprise, because as a werewolf, almost every wound healed completely. But not these scars, they never seemed to go away.

“I didn’t know what you were going through,” Luke said softly. “No one did.”

 _You still don’t._ Collin had gone to see a therapist for a year after the attempt. Dan and Mary had tried to sit in on the meetings, but the therapist had refused after seeing how Collin had acted with them around. But he’d never been truthful with the man, he’d skirted around it for a year before he wasn’t required to go anymore.

Because telling the man that the reason for his suicide attempt was because he was a werewolf, well, that would have just gotten him locked up for good.

“I am sorry though,” Collin said. “I’m…I’m sorry for everything. For what I put you through, and then for, well, abandoning you. But I want to make up for it, okay?”

Luke nodded and then a small smile tugged at his lips. “I like Fox,” he said. “And Grey and even Raven, um, a little. They’re good people.”

“Well, just remember that if you ever need someone and I’m not around, you can always find one of them,” Collin said. “They’re your friends, too.”

“I don’t have any friends,” Luke objected with an embarrassed flush.

“Fuck that,” Collin said and kicked him gently under the table, “you got them and me.”

The waitress arrived with their food and drinks. Luke felt a happy buzz rush up his spine when he stared at his plate of food. He had been living off cold cereal or frozen waffles for what felt like forever, it was nice to have a hot, filling breakfast for once!

“Thanks for breakfast,” he said to Collin as he poured syrup on his French toast.

When breakfast was finished and the bill paid, Collin drove them to school. Luke followed his brother into the building and to the cafeteria, which was used as a gathering area before classes start. Luke saw Grey, Fox, and Raven sitting at a table near the back. Luke shuffled his feet as he approached the table, only to smile brightly when Grey kicked out the chair next to him, inviting Luke to sit.

Grey gave Luke a long, suspicious look before he all but shouted, “You went to the waffle house without me!?”

Luke stared at him, eyes wide, anxiety rushing through him for a second, before he realized Grey was grinning at him. He felt warmth flood his cheeks and rush to his ears. “Um!”

“Hey, what happened?” Grey said when he noticed the bruise on Luke’s face.

The blond looked surprised, having almost forgot it. He touched his cheek and shrugged. “Nothing,” he said and looked at his brother, who was sitting next to Fox, silently begging him for help. Luke was a terrible liar.

“You don’t just wake up with a bruised face and eye,” Grey said with a frown.

The low sound of anger mixed with concern caught Collin’s attention and he looked up. He looked at the grey-haired boy and said, “Let it go. It’s nothing.”

Grey pursed his lips, but seemed to let it go with a shrug. “Well, next time take me to the waffle house with you.”

Fox smirked. He was leaning against Collin’s shoulder and looking at Luke’s math homework, which had been harder than Collin thought, but he also wasn’t the best when it came to math. Raven was ignoring them all; he had in earbuds and was listening to the music on his phone while reading a rather large book. 

Luke stole glances at his brother’s friends. Grey was sitting next to him, trying to annoy Raven by changing the songs on his phone and stealing one of his earbuds so he could listen to the music also. Grey’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail, the cocktail of colors messily mixed in a way that was stylish and pleasing to the eye. With his hair pulled back Luke could see that he had four piercings in each ear. 

Raven, after glaring at Grey and wrinkling his nose, had gone back to reading and ignoring the boy next to him. Raven was wearing all black, and Luke remembered over the weekend that he’d always worn black and wondered if it was the only color he owned. His hair, long and black and straight, was hanging lose over his shoulders and down his back.

Fox, with his permanent bedhead, was making talking softly to Collin as he made corrections on Luke’s homework. He was dressed rather casual, wearing simple blue jeans and sneakers and a t-shirt that had a band’s name scrawled across the front and tour dates on the back.

The bell rang and Luke jumped to his feet in surprise. Everyone’s eyes landed on him and he bit his lip before pulling his bag from the floor and onto his shoulder. “Oh um,” he said, “I need to get to class. Later!”

As Luke walked away from the table a thick mixture of emotions rushed through him. He didn’t know where it came from, or why, but it was uncomfortable and he had to pause for a second to catch his breath. It wasn’t the normal anxiety he felt, it was something else, something heavier on his chest. It was…loneliness. He wanted to go back to the table with Collin’s friends—his friends?—and hang out a while longer.

A hand touched his shoulder and Luke jumped in surprise, turning to look at the tall boy who was suddenly standing next to him. It was Raven, and in his hand he was holding Luke’s math notebook.

“Oh,” he said with a shy smile, “I forgot that. Thanks.”

“I’ll walk with you to class,” Raven offered. 

“Oh, um, okay,” Luke said as he walked next to Raven through the congested hallway. 

Raven glanced at Luke as they walked. He had seen Luke come this way every day because their first-hour classes were across the hall from each other. But he had never made a move to approach the boy before, but he had always kept a close eye on him. Standing close to him, even when all the other bodies in the hallway, Raven could smell Luke’s soft werewolf scent; it was barely there, just a wisp, but it was enough for them to know that Luke was cursed, too. Luke might not know what he was, but he was the pack’s puppy now.

They rounded a corner and Raven scowled at the roadblock in the center of the hall that was holding up traffic. A group of boys wearing jerseys were standing together talking and forcing the throngs of teenagers go around them in single lines.

Shit like that did not fly with Raven. He started walking toward the group, Luke in tow behind him. He met the eyes of one of the boys, who quickly stumbled over his own feet and step back, causing a chain-reaction until the rest of the group moved to the side and allowed Raven to pass through.

Luke had to walk fast to keep up with Raven’s long strides, and he glanced behind him as they left the clot of students behind them.

“How did you do that?” he asked as he stepped up to Raven’s side.

Raven smirked and glanced down at the blond. “Here’s your class.”

“Oh—“ he said as he slid to a stop. “Um, see you later?” Raven nodded and turned, disappearing into the classroom across from his. He smiled, warmth spreading through his chest, before following other students into the classroom.

…

Lunch hour rolled around and Luke stopped at his locker to exchange his morning books for his afternoon ones. His stomach growled in frustration, despite the large breakfast, he was hungry again. He ran his hand through his hair as he tried to remember what was on the menu that day in the cafeteria. 

_I really should start packing my own lunch,_ he thought to himself as he zipped up his backpack. He turned on his heel only to reel back when he nearly collided with Grey.

“Hey, let’s go,” Grey said.

Luke blinked up at him. “What?”

“We’re going out for lunch,” Grey said with a crooked grin. “Let’s go!”

Luke nodded and followed Grey past the row of lockers and to the backdoors by the gymnasium. The sunlight was bright and the air was hot as they crossed the grass lawn to the student parking lot in the front of the school. Luke’s heart pounded excitedly in his chest as he glanced back at the school.

“I’m not supposed to leave school grounds,” he said.

“Neither are we,” Grey said with a laugh. “But we are anyway!”

Luke could see Fox’s car now and three figures standing by it. He recognized Collin by the silvery glow of his hair in the bright sunlight. He waved.

“You found him,” Collin said as he slid off the hood of the car. 

“Yes, my hunt was a success,” he said sarcastically. Fox and Collin took the front seats and Grey opened the back door, letting Luke in first before getting in himself. Raven sat on Luke’s other side and greeted the boy with a single nod.

It was Grey’s turn to pick the dinner spot, and he insisted on going to King Cheese, a burger and hot dog fast food restaurant. Fox rolled his eyes and gave Grey a look through the rear-view mirror. “Are we going there for the food or so you can hit on the girl behind the counter?”

“Both?”

Luke smiled, sitting with his shoulders pulled tight and his knees pressed together so he didn’t touch either boy. It wasn’t that he minded the contact, but for some reason he thought they might. He curled his fingers into the sleeves of his hoodie.

They piled out of the car and into the busy restaurant. “Order what you want, Luke, I’m buying,” Fox said as he checked his wallet for money and glanced over his shoulder at the little blond. 

First though, they had to get by Grey. The girl he was flirting with was small and curvy, with a heavy full of heavy black curls and skin the color of cocoa. She grinned at Grey, blushing as he leaned on the counter to talk to her. Fox let this go on for a few minutes before he blatantly shoved Grey down the line and away from the girl.

Luke was shocked, but the girl only laughed loudly and turned her attention to Fox, so this must have been something that happened every time they ate here.

Luke stood behind Collin, bouncing on his toes as he waited for his turn to order food. He took a quick glance at the menu before ordering a crispy chicken sandwich, onion rings, and a drink. Fox and Collin were standing at the end of the counter with Raven, waiting for their trays of food, when Grey grabbed Luke’s arm and dragged him to the back to claim an open table.

“Is she your girlfriend?” Luke asked after they had sat down.

Grey laughed and took a quick sip of his soda. “We talked about it once, but we’re better off friends,” he said. 

“But the way you were talking to her…”

“I just like to flirt,” he said, “and so does she. It’s just fun. And to piss off Fox.”

Luke tilted his head. “Why would that make Fox mad?”

“Because he’s usually hungry and in line behind me,” he said with a huge grin.

Luke laughed behind his hand just as the other three joined them, carrying trays of food. Collin sat beside Luke and set the tray down between them that had both their orders on it. Collin had ordered a side salad and a double cheeseburger with fries, and he had a strawberry shake that he offered to share with Luke.

“Swap you some fries for a couple onion rings,” Grey said to Luke.

“Oh,” he said, looking down at his food, “you can just have a couple.”

Grey chuckled, giving Luke a handful of fries in exchange for some of the onion rings. Luke smiled at Grey, but hesitated when he saw the way Grey was looking at the bruise on his face. He turned away, bowing his head so his hair hid his face.

“Luke mentioned something last night that I thought was a good idea,” Collin said as he took the lid off his shake so he could dunk a French fry in the ice cream. “He had the idea of moving in with you three.”

Everyone looked at him at once, and Luke felt like a deer in the headlights. His eyes widened and the color drained from his face while his ears reddened. He tossed a glare at his brother, who ignored it, before shrugging his shoulders and digging his fingers into his knees.

“I didn’t really say that,” he said, voice slightly on edge. “I was just um…”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Fox said with a warm smile.

“Absolutely,” Grey concurred.

Luke looked up, brows knitted in a confused frown. He looked between them and then to his brother. “What?”

“We can talk about it more this later,” Fox said as he checked the time on his phone, “because right now we need to get back to school. I have a big science test and I can’t be late again.”

They drove back to school and split up at the door, but Collin stayed with Luke, walking him to this English class on the third floor of the building. “Why did you have to say that?” Luke asked in a sharp, agitated voice.

“Are you mad?” Collin asked.

“Well, it’s just, I didn’t really say that, did I?” he frowned and shook his head, words caught in his throat. “I just don’t want sound like some big baby. Or—or I don’t know! I just don’t want to sound like some little kid who wants to run away from home because they’re having a bad day.”

Collin frowned and shrugged. “While you are a little kid—“

“Am not!”

“And are kind of a whiny little brat—“

“Hey, hey I am not—“

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you, but you shouldn’t be. Those guys, with the exception of Raven, have done loads of embarrassing shit in their lives. Trust me, I’ve witnessed almost all of them,” he said. “I just wanted to throw the idea on the table.”

“Is that why you took my picture yesterday?” Luke asked as he stopped outside his classroom. He looked at his brother, meeting his brown eyes. 

Collin shifted and nodded. “He should have never hit you.”

“I thought you were going to kill him,” Luke said quietly as he remembered the way Collin had thrown Dan to the ground and approached him. “Did…he ever hit you?”

Collin bit the inside of his lip and then took a deep breath. “Once.”

“What happened?”

“I hit him back,” Collin said. “Okay, enough talk. Get to class. Meet you at your locker after school?”

“Sure,” he said. Luke licked his lip before giving Collin a little smile. “See you later.”

Collin roughed up his brother’s hair before walking away.


	4. Insecure Delusions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't expect to have a new chapter ready this soon, but this one is quite short. Thanks for reading! xoxo

Luke knew the moment he entered his bedroom that it had been searched. He snorted through his nose and went to his bed, dropping to his knees to pull out the box of ‘used books’ and double-checked that his safety deposit box was still there.

It was, and he knew if they had found it, he would have been confronted the moment he had stepped into the house.

Collin had dropped him off at the house before leaving. It had bothered him a little, but he reminded himself not to become clingy. He didn’t want to annoy his brother and push him away. It was for the better anyway, because he had homework and a big test to study for, and if he spent his time with Collin, they would do a little homework, eat junk food, and watch movies until they fell asleep.

He changed into pajama pants and a t-shirt and stood digging his toes into the carpet, staring off into space as pop music played from his iPod, when a pain hit him. It was sudden and unexpected and he sucked in a surprised breath as his stomach started to turn.

Luke swallowed hard, pressed his hand to his stomach as his insides churned. Nausea rushed through him and he darted for the bathroom before he could get sick. He slammed the door behind him and dropped down to the floor, heaving the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl.

This hasn’t happened in a while, he thought to himself as he flushed the toilet and leaned back, running a trembling hand over his mouth. There had been blood mixed with the vomit again. He sat back, frowning, wondering if he should tell Collin about it.

Anxiety built up inside him, twisting and spreading through his limbs, until his brain was static and his eyes were wide and his breath coming in hard and fast. He leaned over onto his hands, digging his fingers into the bath rug as he forced himself to breathe. He leaned down, pressing his forehead into the rug. Pain rolled through him and his limbs trembled before just as fast as it was there, it was gone.

He brushed his teeth and left the bathroom only to come across Mary as she was walking up the hallway. She paused when she saw him. “Luke? Are you sick?”

Luke bit the inside of his lip. “Um,” he started, “the school food isn’t agreeing with me.”

“So you won’t be down for supper?”

She was staring at the bruise on his face. Luke wondered if she knew that Dan had hit Collin once. Luke wondered if the man had ever hit her. “I don’t think I should.”

Mary looked like she wanted to say something more, but instead she nodded and continued on her way. Luke let her pass him before he went back up the stairs to his bedroom. His stomach was still unsettled, and he did his best to ignore it, while pulling on his housecoat and settling on the bed with his homework.

He gave studying a try, but the words in front of him seemed to blur and made him dizzy. In the end he gave up, pushing the books to the floor and curled up on the bed. When he closed his eyes darkness crawled around inside his head, and he saw monsters with white eyes and bloody claws. He heard himself screaming, felt himself being torn into pieces.

With a start Luke leaped from the bed and ran for the bathroom.

…

“Hey Collin, wake up.”

He woke with a start, his brown eyes fixed on Luke, who was leaning over him, his lilac eyes wide with fright. His blond hair was disheveled and he was pale and his lip chapped from chewing on it. When Collin inhaled he could smell Luke’s fear, mixed with sickness, and that made him jolt up in surprise. 

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Another nightmare?”

Luke shook his head. He’d been sick twice before he had felt fine enough to return to his bedroom and go to sleep, and had been sleeping rather deeply, until. Until. “There’s something outside my window.”

Collin gave his brother a long, confused look. “What?”

“There’s something out there!” Luke hissed as he grabbed Collin’s arm. “I could hear something in my sleep, a tapping, and when I woke up, there was this h-huge shadow outside the window! Something was there, watching me!”

He could smell Luke’s nervous fear and the sweat that layered his pale skin. Collin touched Luke’s forehead, thinking he might have a fever, but Luke just jerked back and shook his head. 

“It followed me,” he said in a low, frightened voice.

Collin looked over Luke’s shoulder to the window and sure enough, there was something large out there, blocking the shine of the streetlights and moon. Collin felt a rush of surprise and fear through his body as he stood up slowly. He took a couple steps to the window, was reaching for the curtains, when the shadow leaped away.

Luke let out a started gasp while Collin growled low in his throat. He could smell the intruder now, and he knew exactly who it was. Not caring that he was in boxer-briefs and a tank-top, Collin darted through the house and down to the front door. He unlocked it and stepped outside. It had been raining until a few minutes ago, and the air was still heavy with humidity and the ground wet. He walked down the steps the lead to the front door and into the yard, wet grass tickling his toes.

He took a deep breath and tried to focus his thoughts as a rush went through him. The first feeling was fear, and it worked its way through his limbs until he felt like he was trembling. But he couldn’t be scared now, not here especially. This was his home, his territory, and this wolf was the intruder. He couldn’t let fear rule him.

He smelled rain, wet leaves, mud, and damp fur. Collin looked around, eyes cutting through the darkness easily, until he saw a massive pair of prints in the yard. They lead to the hedges that separated their yard from the neighbor’s.

The heavy stink of werewolf filled the hedges and glowing eyes met his.

“Get out of here!” Collin snarled as the hair stood on the back of his neck. Thanks to Raven’s training, Collin could will the Change from man to wolf on his own, but it was sloppy and painful and took time, which he didn’t have right now. He couldn’t be caught in the middle of the transformation, and if Luke happened to walk outside.

“I don’t know how you found me,” Collin continued to the unblinking eyes, “but if you come back here again, my pack will find and kill you.”

A low growl answered him before he heard the sickening crunch of bones. The wolf became bipedal, but instead of a towering werewolf, the transformation stopped halfway between. The heavy scent of blood and bile filled the air and Collin resisted covering his nose.

“Didn’t you miss me?” asked a gnarled and grisly voice.

Collin showed his teeth and growled again. “Get the fuck out of here.”

“I was looking for you, but I found a sweet treat instead,” the wolf-man said with a hitch in his voice. It was extremely painful to hold off the Change like he was, caught somewhere in-between creatures. He growled. “I found a puppy.”

Collin’s heart leaped into his throat and dread spread through his body. He desire to Change, to fight, to defend his territory and his packmate was overwhelming, and he was about to let himself go when he heard the screen door snap behind him.

Luke was suddenly there, but he couldn’t see the werewolf hiding in the hedges in front of them. “Did you find anything? What was it?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know,” Collin lied, “go back inside. It’s not safe.”

“But if you didn’t find anything—“

“Go!” he shouted, turning on Luke and shoving him back. Luke stared at him with startled eyes, but did as told, going back inside.

Collin ignored the guilt of what he had done and walked through the yard to the lurking shadow when suddenly the shadow was gone, and something was leaping through the hedges and running through the neighbor’s yard. Collin caught a glimpse of the massive wolf as it ran, and even though it was gone, he couldn’t shake off the terrible feeling in his gut.

“Hey,” Luke said from the door. “I saw something! What was it?”

“A dog,” Collin said as he walked back to the house.

“Dogs don’t climb up houses,” Luke said with a funny expression.

“That was just a shadow or something,” he said as he walked through the front door, Luke following him through the house. “If you’re worried though, you can sleep with me for the rest of the night.”

“I’m not scared,” Luke said stubbornly. But when they were outside their bedrooms, he hesitated before turning and following Collin into his.

…

Collin couldn’t fall back to sleep. He thought about calling Fox, but it was already late, after three in the morning, and he’d see Fox in a few hours at school. So he lay on his back in bed, staring at his dark ceiling. Luke was asleep next to him, curled up with the blankets pulled up around him, like he used to do when they were little kids and he was scared that the closet monster was going to eat him.

 _How the fuck did he find me?_ The question was burning into Collin’s thoughts. It had been nearly two years since he had seen Dave. Their encounter had been short, but it had been enough to scar Collin and occupy his thoughts for a very long time. 

But now Dave was back, and he knew where he lived, and more important, he had seen Luke, had smelled Luke, and had decided to hunt him.

Rain started to patter against the window and the gentle, calming scent of rain sifted into the room. Collin closed his eyes, but instead of drifting to sleep his mind brought up a picture of Dave. He had been in his thirties and he was a werewolf. It was a Friday night and Collin and his little pack had gone to Moonbeam to just hang out and have fun. Collin was still getting used to what he was, fresh off his suicide attempt, still taking it slow with Fox, and scared of his shadow. When he first saw Dave he knew he was a werewolf, he could sense it, he could smell it, and Dave was an alpha wolf, which made his scent even stronger and it had enticed Collin’s curiosity.

The conversation had been innocent. Collin hadn’t flirted, hadn’t given Dave any kind of signal that he was interested in him in any way. All he had wanted to do was talk to someone else who was a wolf. Dave wasn’t necessarily handsome; he had a square jaw and thick eyebrows and an ugly scar on his chin. His had tribal tattoos on his arms and a sincere enough smile.

Collin excused himself to use the bathroom, and finding it busy, had gone out the backdoor to piss in the alley. He did his business behind a dumpster, but before he could make his way to the club door, he found himself confronted by a large form in the shadows.

“Dave?” Collin asked, staring at the man whose disposition had suddenly changed. He could feel the malice pouring off the man. The feeling of impending danger had caused Collin to stumble back, nearly falling over his feet trying to get away. 

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Dave asked between gritted, sharp teeth.

“I had just…I was coming back,” Collin said with a worried frown. Suddenly he realized how alone he was, and that his friends were still inside. He felt his heart start to pound in his chest while fear made him shake. 

Dave shook his head, staring at Collin with eyes that were more wolf than man. “You little bitches are all the same,” he said as he stepped toward the frightened boy, “you talk and flirt and lead us on, and then you just up and leave, without a word.”

Shock filled Collin as he stared at the approaching man. “I didn’t flirt with you,” he said as he continued to back up, “I didn’t do anything like that. We were just talking!”

“Talking,” Dave said with a sneer. “I don’t talk to little bitches. I fuck them.”

Dave lunged and Collin tried to run away, but he was too slow and too small. He found himself slammed against the wall behind him with Dave’s mouth over his own. The kiss was hard and deep, Dave’s teeth cutting his lips and his tongue thrusting into his mouth. Collin panicked, trying to push the man away, and finally bit his tongue.

The man lurched back with a surprised yell as blood ran down his chin. He smacked Collin across the face and grabbed him by the back of his neck, dragging him forward. “You’ll submit, bitch,” he snarled, “show me your neck and your belly.”

Collin had defiantly growled back and raised his chin, refusing to tilt his head to the side, refusing to submit to the man. When Dave leaned in close, Collin spit on him.

He was thrown to the ground and kicked in the ribs. When Dave knelt on his back and shoved his face into the ground, Collin realized what the man meant to do and panicked. His mind went blank and the wolf took over. Collin hadn’t mastered Changing without the full moon yet, but his distress stirred up the wolf inside him, and suddenly the wolf took over and forced the Change and Dave was leaping away from his snapping wolf teeth.

Collin, now a solid white wolf with dark brown eyes, bolted away from the man and down the alley. He heard swift steps behind him and knew that Dave had Changed as well and was hunting him. Collin leaped up onto a dumpster and threw his head back, howling as loud as he could, the sound echoing off the close walls and buildings and into the night. He needed help or he was going to die.

Dave, now a wolf nearly twice his own weight, leaped at him, eyes blazing and teeth flashing in the dim lights of the alley. Collin, smaller and younger, ducked out of the way and started running again, back toward the club. 

Sharp teeth nipped at his leg and Collin fell, rolling through garbage and into another dumpster. He scrambled to his feet, hackles raised and lips pulled back to show his teeth. His ears flattened and he snarled, snapping at the larger, older wolf that now had him cornered.

Dave sneered at him, his wolf face smug and fearless of the small white wolf in front of him. Dave’s wolf-speak seeped into Collin’s mind, crawling through it like oil in water, polluting his thoughts. _I take my packmates one a time,_ Dave said, _I use them until they break, because they all break, and then I move one. You’re mine, little white wolf._

The white wolf snarled and shook his head. He wouldn’t be one of Dave’s play-toys. He took a deep breath, howling again, and Dave took the opportunity to dive at him. Sharp teeth nipped at his fur and the white wolf yelped and leaped in a desperate scramble to get away. The two fighting wolves were suddenly interrupted by a third, a brown and tan wolf with brilliant green eyes.

 _Fox!_ Collin yelped as he tore away from Dave, his white coat spotted with blood. Fox stood between them, hackles and tail up, his entire body vibrating with aggression. But together they were still smaller than Dave; immature and still clumsy in their wolf fur.

Somewhere around them howls started to break the air and Fox quickly nudged Collin into the nearest corner. They flattened themselves to the ground as a pack dissolved from the shadows, eyes glowing like beacons in the darkness. Pineview City was called the City of Werewolves to the non-human kind, and there were packs littered throughout the city.

 _Stay down,_ Fox hissed as he crouched near the Collin. Together they watched as the pack approached Dave and a fight started. Six against one. And these wolves weren’t small and young like Fox and Collin, they were mature, fighting wolves, with the scars and tattered ears to prove it.

They chased Dave off in a couple short minutes and then surrounded the two cowering wolves. Collin whined loudly and Fox rolled over, showing his belly. The pack alpha gave a quick warning lecture about wolves like Dave, lone wolves who were tainted and nearly feral, and to never leave your packmates behind when talking to bigger, stronger wolves.

Then the pack left. Collin rolled to his paws, whining and dropping his tail between his legs as he sat down in the moonlight, his fur glowing like a beacon. The brown wolf licked his ears and his wounds before nuzzling against him. He followed Fox back to his car and waited for Fox to Change. It was painful and messy, Fox’s wolf fur receding back into him and being replaced with flushed skin and smears of blood. Fox had managed to Change without losing all his clothing, but Collin had shredded his own clothing in his panic. When Fox regained his footing he opened the backdoor and let Collin leap into the car.

Once in the backseat he Changed back, crying as the pain ripped through him. There was a blanket on the seat and he wrapped it around himself to hide his nudity. Sickness churned inside him and he leaned out the car door to vomit.

Fox was at his side then, touching his shoulder gingerly, concerned he would frighten Collin more than he already was. But Collin wanted comfort, he wanted to be close to his packmate, so he pushed himself into Fox’s arms and curled up there, eyes closed tight as he fought off the sickness in his gut; the anxiety that stemmed from the knowledge that if he hadn’t Changed Dave would have raped him and taken him, and he would have never seen his friends or family again. And if the local pack hadn’t heard their howling and came looking for the source, that Dave would have done it both of them, or something horribly worse.

“Are you okay?” Fox asked as he nuzzled the top of Collin’s head.

“I will be,” he said shakily. “I’ll…be okay. And I won’t let this happen again.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Fox said with a frown.

“I couldn’t defend myself.”

“If you’re going to say that, then this is my fault too, because I couldn’t protect you,” Fox said. He shook his head. “We’ll be more careful from now on. We’ll watch each other’s backs. And if he comes back…”

“We’ll kill him.”

…

**Collin (6:45am)** _I need to talk to you privately when you get to school._

**Fox (6:47am)** _Are we breaking up? Lol_

**Fox (7:15am)** _That was a joke. Now I’m worried???_

**Collin (8:05am)** _Driving. And no you idiot._

Collin stuffed his phone in his pocket as he and Luke left the Jam and Joy, a coffee shop that offered dozens of different flavors of coffee and tea and just as many breakfast rolls, cakes and bagels. Collin had felt like something sweet for breakfast, needing a sugar and caffeine buzz after being up the rest of the night. Luke had just been excited for coffee cake and bacon.

He parked in the student parking lot and walked with Luke into the school. Luke excused himself to stop at his locker and promised to join the group in the cafeteria, which was fine with Collin. He needed to talk to the pack about Dave without Luke over-hearing.

Fox sat up when he saw Collin approaching. He frowned at the boy. Collin was always pale, but it was a healthy look, his skin soft and clear like porcelain, but this morning he looked worn down and exhausted, with bags under his eyes.

“What’s going on?” Fox asked as Collin sat next to him.

“Luke and I had a visitor last night,” Collin said. His tone caught the attention of Grey and Raven, who pulled the earbuds out of their ears to listen. “Dave.”

Grey and Raven hadn’t seen Dave, but they had heard the story. The two exchanged looks and Grey shook his head. “How did he find out?”

“I don’t know,” Collin said as he fidgeted. “I don’t care. How am I supposed to keep Luke safe? How do I keep Dave out of the house?”

“There aren’t any werewolf-repellents that wouldn’t repel you and Luke, too,” Fox said.

“I don’t think you’ll have a problem keeping an eye on Luke,” Grey said. “He follows you around like a puppy. And…do you think Dave would break into your house? That’s asking for trouble. The hunter kind of trouble.”

Raven frowned at the mention of hunters. Where there were werewolves, there were werewolf hunters. Even his family pack had to work hard to stay under the hunter radar, and in a place like Pineview City, which was crawling with werewolves, hunters weren’t unheard of or unusual.

“I want to tell him,” Collin said with an exhausted sigh. “But I can’t. I can’t tell him yet. It’s too soon. I’m scared I’ll lose him.”

“Tell him there’s a pedophile in the area,” Grey suggested. At Fox’s frown he shrugged and added, “It’s not like it’s not true. He is a pedophile, and a pervert.”

Collin considered it before sighing heavily. He was too tired for this. He leaned on Fox’s shoulder, just getting comfortable, when Luke joined him. He sat up and smiled at his brother as he took the open seat next to Grey.


	5. Wolves at Our Door

Luke was not a fan of his physical education class. He fully admitted that he was a little lazy, and he’d rather play video games or nap then run the mile or play sports. He was actually pretty good at basketball, but his class was freshmen mixed with juniors, and the older students took all sports pretty seriously. It didn’t help that the kids in his class were on the football and basketball teams. Luke’s least favorite memory was getting tackled into the ground by the star quarterback. He’d limped for two days and had a bloody chin. So much for touch-football being harmless and fun.

That day they played tennis. The courts were across the school grounds and it was a long walk in the sun. Luke was exhausted and hot, and if he wasn’t so self-conscious he would have used the shower like the other boys, but instead he changed his clothing and sat down on a bench in the locker room. Large industrial fans buzzed from the corners of the room, trying to keep it cool, but mostly it just stirred up the stink of deodorant, body order, smelly shoes and sweaty clothing.

The bell rang and Luke leaned down to tie his shoes. He was reaching for his backpack when a foot landed on one of the straps. Luke looked up and frowned. 

“What’s up?” he asked the tall boy standing in front of him. Adam was on the football team, and he was broad shouldered and his brown hair was buzzed. 

“I saw you hanging out with Grey. You guys friends now?”

Luke’s lips thinned and he glanced around as the locker room emptied, leaving them alone. “Well, not really. He’s my brother’s friend. Can I have my bag? I need to get to class.”

“You can have it when I say you can,” Adam barked. “You’re going to give that guy a message for me.”

“Can’t you tell him yourself?” Luke asked with a little sigh. “I need to go—“

Adam’s hands shot out, grabbing Luke by the front of his shirt and jerking him forward and to his feet. Luke’s sneakers slid across the floor. “You tell Grey, that if he thinks he can just take my girl from me, then he’s got another thing coming,” Adam said as his hands curled into fists. He jerked Luke up so he was on his toes. 

“Grey did what?” Luke asked as he tried to keep his balance. 

“That asshole stole my girlfriend!” Adam snapped as he gave Luke a shake. 

Luke frowned, feeling a bit rattled from being shaken around so much. “I think you should tell him yourself,” he said as he tried to pull back. “I don’t really care.”

Adam shoved Luke back, but before Luke could get his balance, the boy’s fist connected with his nose and Luke fell back on his ass. He caught himself on his hands and sat there, stunned, pain pulsing through his face and blood running down over his lips. He blinked rapidly, tears building in his eyes.

“You should care,” Adam sneered as he stood over the younger boy, sprawled back on the floor. He reached down, grabbing Luke and jerking him forward while raising his fist to him, but it never connected.

Luke heard a sharp yelp and a slam, and he opened his eyes to a surprising sight. Adam was pressed face-first into the lockers and Grey was behind him, twisting the football player’s arm behind his back. 

“Hey Adam,” Grey said, his voice sharp. “Next time you have a problem with me, how about you come to me, instead of beating on my friends? And I wouldn’t have to steal your girls away,” Grey gave the football player’s arm a jerk, making him gasp in pain, “If you wouldn’t feel the need to make your little dick feel bigger by hitting them.”

Luke could see that Grey was trembling; his entire body seemed to be vibrating, making him think of Collin’s reaction when Dan had hit him. Luke swallowed hard, nearly choking on a mouthful of blood, and said softly, “Grey?”

Grey’s head snapped around to Luke, his blue eyes dilating as he looked at the boy and then gave Adam’s arm another twist before leaning off him. Adam stumbled away from him, blood pouring down his face from his broken nose and lip, and cradled his arm to his chest. The teenager looked between them before running from the locker room.

After taking a few deep, concentrated breaths, Grey stepped over to Luke and reached for his hand. He pulled Luke to his feet and guided him to the line of sinks along the wall and had Luke sit on counter. He started the water and wet a paper towel before handing it to the boy.

“You okay?” he asked. His heart was pounding in his ears as he tried to calm down. Luke’s scent was heavy in the air, blood mixed with fear. It made Grey see red.

“You’re really strong,” Luke said instead. He leaned over, spitting blood into the sink, and then used the paper towel to dab at the blood coming from his nose. 

“It’s not broken,” Grey said as he gently took Luke’s chin in his fingers and tilted his head back and forth to look at his nose. “You should be okay.”

He took a deep breath and suddenly laughed, but there was no humor in it. Grey gave him a curious look but Luke just shook his head and looked away. “This hasn’t been a good week for me,” he said. “People keep hitting me in the face.”

Something twisted inside Grey and he had to stop a growl from rising in his throat. He might be the omega of the pack, the lowest member and the one who got picked on when they were in the fur, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get angry or violent. He shook his head. “None of that’s your fault, Luke.”

“I know,” he said as he gently touched his nose, which had stopped bleeding and was throbbing. A headache was forming between his eyes. “Why did you even come in here? You don’t have class.”

“I forgot something,” he said with a shrug. “I’m sorry. He shouldn’t have hit you.”

“Does he really hit his girlfriends?” Luke asked.

“Yeah.”

“Then you should have broken his arm.”

Grey flashed him a brilliant, dimpled smile. “I like the way you think!” He went and picked up Luke’s backpack. “I’ll walk you to class.”

“Does it look bad?” Luke asked as he twisted around to look in the mirror.

“Makes you look badass,” Grey said.

That made him laugh, which made him wince because it hurt, “Yes, because I am such a badass. Maybe I’ll get a Mohawk.”

Grey tilted his head. “You could rock it.”

He rolled his eyes and slipped off the counter. He took his bag from Grey and slipped it over one shoulder. Grey walked with him to his class. Luke found himself liking Grey’s company. The older boy was chatty, and he was pleasant with a smile always on his face. In fact, Luke was starting to get used to the group of guys. The only one he didn’t see a lot of was Fox, their classes were in completely different parts of the large school, but Grey and Raven were almost always within eyeshot. Even Collin would run across him time to time. It was…nice. It was a comforting feeling, a distraction from his thoughts which until now, how always been muddled and full of static. With the guys around the anxiety in his chest eased, the depression in his mind become a little less cloudy, and the pain in his chest, which Luke had identified as heartache, had eased.

“See you later!” Grey said as he left Luke at his classroom. 

Luke waved and peered into the classroom. His teacher was at the front, back to the class, so Luke snuck into the room and took a seat in the back row. People glanced at him, the girl in front of him even turned around to ask if Luke was okay.

“It doesn’t look that bad, does it?” he whispered worriedly.

…

Luke sat on the hood of Collin’s car, head tilted back in the sunlight. His brother was late again. His last class of the day was chemistry, and sometimes it ran long, depending on what they were doing. Luke didn’t mind exactly, sitting here in the sunlight wasn’t so bad, but through the day his face had started to hurt more and more, and he just wanted to go home, swallow some painkillers, and put a cold washcloth on his face. 

He was just thinking about started on his homework there on the hood of the car when he noticed someone walking toward him, and it wasn’t his brother

“Hey!” Grey said cheerfully. He opened the backdoor of Collin’s car and tossed his backpack onto the seat before walking back to Luke. “Mind if I stay over tonight?”

Luke tilted his head. He couldn’t remember the last time either of them had had a guest stay over. The last time there had been any kind of sleep over had been on Collin’s birthday when he was twelve, and it had involved cousins, and hadn’t ended well. Luke seemed to remember Collin and their older cousin, Andrew, getting into a fight over a video game.

“You’re scrunching your nose,” Grey said, “is that a no?”

“No!” Luke said and then shook his head, “No, I meant um, that’s cool. If you wanted to stay over, but I don’t know why you would want to? Our parents kind of suck.”

“They don’t scare me,” he said breezily. He looked around. “Where is Collin?”

“In chem class,” he said. “He’s always late.”

“How’s your nose?” Grey asked.

“Hurts a lot,” he said. “I saw Adam later. He had a bandage across his nose and two black eyes. How hard did you slam into his face into that locker?”

Luke watched as Grey looked away and shrugged. He’d seen Grey without a shirt; he knew he was toned and strong. Just how strong though?

“Not hard enough,” Grey said. Then he laughed. “Maybe it’ll knock a little sense into him.”

“Is it ever that easy?”

“No, nothing ever is,” Grey said. He yawned and sighed. “Fuck I am exhausted. I had this weird dream last night that I was on American Idol, but when you were eliminated off the show you were sent to an island and hunted by the tribes of Survivor.”

Luke blinked. “That is…definitely weird.”

“Do you ever have weird dreams?”

Luke chewed his bottom lip. “I have nightmares a lot,” he said. “Sometimes they… Um, never mind.”

“No, what?”

Luke stared down at his shoes, picking at the laces. “They worry me sometimes,” he said. “Maybe I need to see a therapist or something? I thought about…talking to the school counselor, but they would just tell Mary.”

Something cold ran through Grey and he stared at the little blond in front of him. He wanted to touch his shoulder, hug him, or even just _tell_ him that ‘hey bro don’t fret, you’re just a werewolf and your brain is trying to make adjustments’ but none of those seemed like a good idea. Instead he said, “They scare you that much?”

“I just remember what happened to Collin,” he said softly. “He was waking up nightly with bad dreams. Screaming and yelling and…and then he, you know, disappeared and when he came back he tried to kill himself. I feel like I’m going down the same road he is. Yeah, okay, he seems good now, but…but what if I’m going through that too? What if I go crazy and I snap and…I do that to myself. What if-if I actually die?”

Grey’s blue eyes were wide and his face pale. He shook his head and reached out to grab Luke’s shoulder. “That isn’t going to happen to you.”

He raised his head to look at Grey. The boy looked scared, which scared Luke in turn. “We aren’t that much alike,” he said, “why is this happening to me?” 

Before Grey could reply, Luke continued, his voice rushed and high with panic that had been building inside him, “I’m sick a lot. When I puke sometimes, it’s all bloody. What is that? Am I like, dying? Or is it cancer? And I don’t sleep very well, or eat a lot. I just feel like I’m…like something horrible is going to happen.”

_Something horrible is going to happen to you._ Grey frowned, a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Luke, you gotta chill. I promise that everything will be okay. Give me your cell phone.”

Luke pulled the phone from his pocket and handed it to Grey, watching as the boy programmed his number into Luke’s contact list.

“There,” he said handing it back. “Call me any time, okay? And I’m not just saying that to be nice, I seriously mean it. If you ever feel scared or like you want to hurt yourself, anything at all, you call me. You won’t make me mad.”

Luke gripped the phone in his hands, his knuckles turning white. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Grey said. He felt some of Luke’s tension drain out of the air, his shoulders relaxed and his scent wasn’t quite so thick with fear and anxiety as it was. He resisted the urge to run his fingers through Luke’s sunny-blond hair, and instead leaned against the bumper of the car. “Seriously, where the fuck is your brother?”

“Oh, I see him,” Luke said when he spotted his brother’s pale hair.

Grey smirked, tilting his head. Collin looked a bit rumpled, and his lips were pink. When Collin was closer he could smell Fox on him. Grey didn’t have a car so he rode with Fox every day, but today he had told Fox his plan to sleep over at Collin’s, so Fox must have taken the opportunity to pull Collin into a closet for a little extracurricular activity.

“Chem class, huh?” Grey said with a grin.

Collin’s cheeks flushed pink. “Yeah. What are you doing here?”

“Luke said we could have a slumber party.”

“How’s your nose?” Collin asked his brother. The bruise was dark and ugly, but he could tell it was healing fast. The bruise from Dan had only lasted a day before it was gone.

“It hurts,” he said. “Can we go?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Collin said. The window blew his hair off his shoulder and Grey snickered, poking a finger at the hicky on his pale neck. Collin slapped his hand away and gave him an annoyed look. 

Luke was already in the backseat, waiting for the other two.

Grey hopped into the passenger seat and shouted, “Oh! Let’s stop the Gas and Go! I need to get food.”

“We um, have food at the house,” Luke said.

“Not the kind of unhealthy crap that my body is fueled with,” Grey said. “We need blanket-fort snacks.”

“We’re building a blanket-fort!?” Luke exclaimed.

“We must,” Grey said. “It’s in the slumber party instruction booklet.”

Collin was shaking his head and smiling. He pulled out of the parking lot and off course so they could stop at the convenience store. 

“You guys want anything?” Grey asked as he opened the door.

“Energy drinks and chocolate,” Collin said.

“Already on the list. Luke?”

“Nothing, thanks.”

Grey tilted his head, a crooked grin on his face. “Seriously? Nothing?” He leaned between the two front seats and grinned at the boy sitting in the back. “I’m buying.”

Luke bit the inside of his cheek before shrugging. “I really like M&Ms.”

“The peanut butter ones,” Collin added for him.

“All right!” Grey said as he sprinted out of the car and to the store.

“He has so much energy,” Luke said with a little smile.

“That’s because he lives on caffeine and sugar,” Collin said. He turned in his seat, looking back at Luke. “So you’re okay?”

“Um, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’ve had a hard week,” he said. “Dan and then Adam. You’re okay, right?”

Luke stared at him for a moment before shrugging. “Sure. It’s almost Friday, right?”

He rested his chin on the seat and looked past his brother and out the window. It was a nice day, warm but not too hot, and the sky was clear and blue. He was thinking about Fox, thinking about the touch of his lips, the caress of his hands; his husky voice in his ear. Collin felt his cheeks heat and he coughed, forcing his thoughts to something less excitable.

Grey came back five minutes later, carrying a bag of food and energy drinks. He slid into the passenger seat, dug through the plastic bag, and then was tossing a giant bag of peanut butter M&Ms to Luke in the backseat. “I got the biggest one I could find.”

Luke stared at the bag and felt his heart give a happy skip. “Seriously? I can have this?”

“Yeah,” he laughed. 

They drove to The Burns, pulling into the driveway alongside Dan and Mary’s cars. Grey stood and stretched. “I think it’s been months since I’ve last been here.”

“Probably longer than a year, actually,” Collin said as he pulled his backpack over his shoulder. He looked at Luke’s bruised face and pursed his lips. “We can’t let them see you like that, or we’ll never hear the end of it.”

“What should I do?” Luke asked.

“I can distract them,” Grey said. “I had some ideas about supper anyway.”

Luke cocked his head. “You what now?”

Collin smirked. “Come on, just follow me.” 

The three of them headed to the front door, Collin stepping inside with Luke close behind. He didn’t see anyone at first, so Luke darted around him and up the stairs. Mary, hearing the loud footsteps, walked out of the living room then, only to stop in surprise when she saw Grey.

“Oh,” she said. “Um, Collin, who is this?”

“You remember Grey,” he said. “He was going to spend the night.”

Mary frowned. “It’s a school night.”

“Yeah we have um, school things to do,” he said.

“I’m Luke’s tutor,” Grey said. “Say! For supper can we order out?”

Collin grinned, leaving Grey downstairs with Mary as he headed up after Luke, who had gone to his room. He paused there, leaning his head in, “Come to my room when you’re ready,” and then returned to his bedroom. Luke joined him shortly after, carrying with him his homework and the large bag of M&Ms.

“Where is Grey?”

“I left him downstairs.”

“That’s mean,” Luke said. “Why?”

“He’s…got a way with people,” Collin said. “Don’t worry about him.”

Luke went to the window, looking out. He remembered the shadow that had stalked him around the house and frowned. “You don’t really think it was just a shadow that night, do you?” he asked.

Collin looked up from his iPod where he’d been browsing through playlists. “What do you think it was?”

“I’d say a burglar, but we don’t have anything worth stealing,” he said. 

“That’s for sure,” he said. “I don’t know. Just watch out for…anyone strange lurking around, okay?”

Luke looked at him. “Like what?”

“Just anyone who might be following you,” Collin said. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“Look, don’t argue,” he said with a sigh. “Just tell me if anything weird happens.”

Luke knew Collin wasn’t telling him something, but he didn’t want to get into it right now either. He was tired and in pain. “Do you have any Tylenol?”

“Yeah,” he said, getting the bottle from his desk and tossing it to his brother. Luke caught it, took one, and then set the bottle on the nightstand before sitting on the bed. The door swung open then and Grey strolled in, looking quite proud of himself. He sat down on the bed and lay back, placing his legs in Luke’s lap.

“Okay, so what did you do?” Collin asked, recognizing the sparkle in Grey’s eyes.

“We’re getting take-out from The Farmhouse,” he said with a grin.

“I love that place!” Luke said. “It’s like, homemade food but somehow better.”

“Oh, Grey you are my new god,” Collin said with a huge grin as he jumped on the bed, almost landing on Grey. “Move in with us.”

Luke nodded and looked down at Grey’s socks; they were black with white skulls wearing little pink bows on them. “I really like your socks.”

“You are so much like your brother,” Grey said, folding his arms behind his head.

…

When the doorbell rang Collin and Grey went down to get their take-out dinners from The Farmhouse. Each Styrofoam to-go box contained half of a roasted chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans and half-an-ear of sweet corn; dinner rolls and an entire apple pie had been delivered as well. The trio got comfortable under the blanket fort Grey and Luke had thrown together, using blankets and bedsheets and pillows, and lamps and chairs for support. The fort started over Collin’s bed and ended over the fuzzy rug next to the bed, giving them plenty of room to sit around. Collin’s string lights were on, giving the fort a nice, cozy glow. 

“He thinks you’re our drug dealer,” Collin said as he dunked a dinner roll into the steaming gravy that was oozing over his mashed potatoes. “They’ll most likely search our rooms tomorrow.”

“Mary already searched mine,” Luke said. He was sitting in a nest of pillows and blankets, wrapped up warm and comfortable. They had changed from their school clothes and into pajamas. Grey had borrowed a pair of pants and t-shirt from Collin, both which were too small and tight for him, but he wasn’t complaining.

“You two seriously need to rethink your living situation,” Grey said as he licked his fingers. Like Luke he was surrounded by pillows and blankets, but he wasn’t wrapped up. Next to him was the bag from the convenience store, full of individual snack cakes and trail mixes and beef jerky. 

Luke glanced at him before turning his attention back to his food. He half-listened to Collin and Grey as their talked, and readily accepted a large slice of apple pie from Grey. It was topped with a cinnamon streusel mixture that was sweet and crunchy. He was starting to feel sleepy, full of good warm food and relaxing company, when Collin reached for their backpacks, which had been tucked to of side of the fort.

“And now homework,” Collin said.

“Homework?” Grey asked with a little start.

“Yes. We have to do our homework.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

…

It was well past one in the morning and the blanket fort was lit by the soft glow of the string lights. Luke had crawled up into the bed, curling up beneath the blankets and was fast asleep. Collin and Grey were on the floor, in the heap of blankets and pillows, talking softly so they wouldn’t wake Luke. Grey’s phone sat next to him, playing his favorite Pandora playlist.

“He’s worried he’ll end up like me?” Collin said, resting his head in his arms. His hair glowed softly in the low light. “That he’ll have a breakdown and try to kill himself, like his crazy brother?”

“But he doesn’t know the real reason that happened,” Grey gently.

“Does it really matter? All he knows is his brother is a mental patient who cut himself to ribbons hoping to die,” Collin said as color stained his cheeks and his eyes shimmered. “And it scares him. His biggest fear is that he’s going to turn into me.”

“Don’t talk that way,” Grey said. “What you went through was horrible. What I went through, what Fox went through, all our transformations were fucking horrible. Only Raven has the advantage, being born into this life. The rest of us? We start off at the bottom, and we have to crawl through the blood and mud and guts until we can get to our feet. And if I’ve learned anything, it’s that we don’t need to stand on our own. The purpose of a pack is to help you up when you’re broken. And we’ll be there for Luke, just like we were there for you.”

“What would I do without you?” he said softly, looking at Grey whose eyes were glowing in the darkness.

“When are you planning on telling him?” Grey asked.

“I don’t know. It’s not an easy thing to bring up. But it gets heavier every day,” Collin said. “I’m starting to get anxious. And he’s obviously getting worse. His first Change will happen within a year I think. The nightmares and the blood in his vomit, it’s his body dealing with the stress of what’s going to happen to him.”

“I know my opinion doesn’t matter that much, but I really think you should tell him,” Grey said. “Get it out there, show him proof, and let him adjust. I know you’re scared of how he’ll react, but he’s a werewolf, like us. It’s not like he can just ignore it and it’ll go away. Maybe knowing will help ease his stress.”

Collin chewed his lip before closing his eyes and exhaling heavily. He knew Grey was right. He knew he had to tell him. He scooted closer to Grey, snuggling against his side. “Thanks for staying the night, Grey. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Lead quite the boring life, I imagine,” he said with a little chuckle.

“And if Dave comes back…” 

“We’re safe here,” Grey said, “I’ll keep you both safe.”

…

In the morning Collin woke to the alarm clock buzzing on his cell phone. He sighed heavily and moved out from under Grey’s arm and sat up, stretching. He slipped out of the fort, used the bathroom, and then slipped silently downstairs and found his parents had both left early. He smiled, turning on the radio, and went to start the coffee maker.

Upstairs Luke woke to Grey’s soft snoring. It startled him at first, because Collin didn’t snore. He saw up with a yawn and looked over the side of the bed where Grey was asleep on his back, one arm thrown above his head. Luke smiled as he carefully left the bed, maneuvered around Grey, and left the fort. He could smell coffee brewing. Going to his bedroom he picked out his clothing for the day and then went downstairs to use the bathroom.

Collin was in the kitchen, still in his dark blue pajamas with glow-in-the-dark moons and stars on them. He waved while he walked, going into the bathroom. He changed his clothing, used the toilet, brushed his teeth and then ran a brush through his hair. Now he could smell eggs and bacon cooking and felt his stomach rumble hungrily.

He headed out of the bathroom and through the house back to the kitchen and was surprised to see Grey was awake, dressed, with his hair done and looking wide awake as he sat on the kitchen counter drinking a glass of orange juice.

“When did you get up?” Luke said, walking over and yawning.

“Right after you,” Grey said. He was wearing a sweater that belonged to Collin, it was red with black stripes on the sleeves and was quite snug across the chest and shoulders, but it looked good on Grey. He was wearing the same black jeans as yesterday. He had Collin’s black nail polish in hand and was painting his nails. He glanced at Luke. “Want me to paint yours?”

Luke felt his neck warm. “Why would I want that?”

Grey shrugged. “Peer pressure?”

“That’s okay,” he said. Luke sat down at the kitchen table and yawned again. He wasn’t much of a morning person. Not like Grey who was talking casually with Collin and putting the finishing touches on his nails. Luke just couldn’t muster that kind of morning energy. He just wanted to lay his head on the table and go to sleep for another three hours.

“Sit up,” Collin said as he stood at Luke’s side with a plate heaped with a bacon and cheese omelet, hearty wheat toast and fresh fruit. “Eat your breakfast.”

Luke hummed and sat up before eying the plate of food hungrily. Grey hopped down from the counter to join them, and they ate in silence. Collin drank two cups of coffee and Grey finished off the carton of orange juice. 

After breakfast Collin showered and dressed and the three headed for school. Luke was starting to get their morning routine memorized: meet in the cafeteria in the morning before class and hang out until the bell rang. 

“One month until summer break,” Fox said as he finished up his math homework.

“Thank God,” Grey said. “I’m not sure how much more of this place I can take.”

“Yeah, I heard you broke Adam Franklin’s nose,” Fox commented.

“He deserved it,” Grey said defensively, “he deserved worse, actually. He was trying to push Luke around and I walked in on it.”

Luke felt his face turn red with the two boys looked at him, but he refused to look up from his cell phone.

“I think we should go camping during the first week of break,” Collin said to change the subject.

“That sounds like fun to me.”

“A whole week?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Fox said, “you can’t get the feel of the wilderness if you aren’t out there a week or longer. Don’t worry its fun and safe. We’ve never had any problems. Nothing is more relaxing than lying out under the stars without any lights around to obstruct the view. I’ve seen some amazing things out there.”

Grey started to whistle the X-Files theme.

“You sleep outside?” Luke said, frowning. “I don’t think I could handle that. I hate bugs.”

“That’s why they invented bug spray.”

“Genius.”

“We bring tents,” Fox said with a grin. “It’s fun. We cook over an open fire and sometimes we fish and of course, s’mores every night. You’ll come, right?”

“Oh, sure,” Luke said, not really realizing that Fox had been inviting him, but he felt eager to agree to go along, not wanting to be left behind. Besides, he had never been camping before. Mary and Dan weren’t the outdoorsy-type, or the family vacation type.

Raven stood as the bell rang and Luke jumped up to follow him. They never talked, just walked in silence. It was a comfortable silence though, walking at Raven’s side. Today Luke was thankful for the older boy’s presence when he saw Adam Franklin and his bandaged nose and black eyes. The boy stared at him, and Luke knew what he was looking at. When Luke had checked his reflection in the mirror this morning, he’d found that his bruised face was almost completely cleared up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://softwolffeathers.tumblr.com/


	6. Transformation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters at once! I was eager to get this chapter posted. Enjoy!
> 
> And thanks everyone for leaving a Kudos or a comment <3 You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

The week melted by without further incident. By Friday Luke was actually feeling pretty chipper. He was sitting on Collin’s bed, flipping through a magazine of collectable movie memorabilia when his brother came in from the shower. 

“We’re performing at Moonbeam tonight,” Collin said as he went through his closet. He had a whole assortment of clothing. He didn’t dress like any particular genre. He could dress punk or rock or nerd or casual or even preppy. He had it all. He even had short-shorts and leggings and tights, and a couple skirts that he’d worn once or twice when feeling bold.

Today he pulled on skin-tight black pants that had rips and slashes in them, a studded silver belt, and a sleeveless rock shirt. He tied a black and red plaid button-up shirt around his waist and then pulled an over-sized black beanie on his head. He went to the mirror on his dresser to apply his mascara and eye shadow.

“Is that why you dress like that?” Luke asked, frowning at how tight his brother’s pants were.

“Yeah,” he said as he motioned for Luke to scoot over so he could pull his guitar case out from under the bed and rest it on top of the sheets, opening it. Luke leaned over, admiring the instrument, before Collin closed the case and straightened up. “Come along tonight! It’ll be awesome.”

Luke thought about it, twisting his fingers together. Collin sat on the bed to pull on a clunky pair of shoes and then checked the time on his phone. “But you guys will be like, on stage singing. What will I do?”

“You can watch us,” Collin said as he stood back up, hands on his hips. “It’s not as scary as you think it is, Luke. This isn’t some rock venue. It’s a stupid little club that all the kids go to and local bands play at. We’ll sign a few songs and then we can all hang out. It’ll be fun, so go put on something cool.”

“I don’t own anything cool!”

“Well then pick something out of my closet,” Collin said, waving his hand. “Go on, hurry.”

“But, all your clothes—“

“If you don’t, I will, and we’ll dress to match!”

“Fine, I’ll find something!”

…

It had taken Luke a few minutes, and lots of prodding from Collin, but he eventually changed into something that Collin said would look ‘cool,’ but Luke was convinced nothing would ever look as good on him as it would Collin. He pulled on a pair of red and blue plaid tight pants, a black t-shirt that had skeleton hands on the front of it, and an old leather jacket of Collin’s. 

“I feel stupid,” Luke said to himself as he stared at himself in the mirror. He took some of Collin’s hair gel and ran it through his hair, making it spiky and messy. He frowned.

“You look fine,” Collin said with a grin. “Want some eyeliner?”

Luke flushed and looked at his brother. “It wouldn’t look good on me.”

“If you think so,” Collin said with a light smile. “Come on, let’s go then.”

They left in Collin’s car, heading out of the suburbs and into the city, but instead of the route Luke was familiar with to school, they turned and drove deeper into the city. Pineview City had a massive art and theater district, and multiple parks and recreational sports fields, and lots of little neighborhoods full of locally owned shops and restaurants and bars. Moonbeam was deep in the city, past the malls and shopping centers, in an area that looked dangerous to Luke.

“Is this like, a warehouse district or something?” Luke asked with a frown.

Collin laughed. “Well, there are warehouses,” he said. “So I guess so.”

They had to park down the block from the club. Collin got out of the car, sent a quick text to the pack to let them know that he and Luke were there, and then started walking. The streets were busy with Friday night traffic. Luke could see a huge neon sign outside of the club’s front door, it was pink and read ‘Moonbeam’ and there was a glowing half-moon that halfway circled the words. People were standing outside the club smoking and talking, and Luke could hear the music from the street.

He followed Collin to the back of the club. A security guard greeted Collin with a smile and opened the door, letting them in the backdoor. They walked up a long hallway and passed doors that lead to the kitchen and bar and employee-only rooms. Then they were walking through a large set of doors and were striding across the dance floor.

Luke paused, assaulted by the sudden change in atmosphere. The first thing he realized what yes, Collin was right, this wasn’t as scary as he thought. There was a stage, and a huge dance floor which dissolved into tall tables with stools for sitting. People were dancing on the floor and gathered around tables, drinking out of purple cups and eating a variety of foods from the bar. Beyond the seating area Luke could see that there were more places to sit and talk; couches and loveseats, with dividers made of beads that hung from the ceiling. Over the dance floor was a disco ball that sent dancing lights throughout the club, and the lighting was otherwise dim, but not so much that it was a problem to see where you were going. The bar area was to the far side, and people were seated along it ordering drinks and food, and Luke could smell chicken wings and fries.

“See, not scary is it?” Collin asked with a grin.

“No, not really,” Luke said. He looked at the stage where a tall, skinny black girl was singing. Her voice was deep and haunting, and the dance floor moved slowly to the pace of her love song. She had heavy, curly black hair and was wearing an orange dress with a flower pattern and was strumming slowly on her guitar. “She’s really good!”

“That’s Clara,” Collin said. “She’s amazing. She’ll be famous someday.” 

“Hey guys!” a voice called over the music. “You’re almost late Collin!”

“Sorry,” he said, turning to the approaching boy.

Luke tore his eyes away from the singer to look at Grey. He let out a little laugh. Grey was dressed in bondage pants and a tight black mesh shirt. His hair was up in a Mohawk and he looked like he was buzzing with energy. Luke wondered how many Red Bulls he’d had. 

“Luke!” Grey exclaimed. “You came along, huh?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking up at him. “Nice hair.”

Grey winked at him and turned to Fox and Raven. Neither boy had dressed too dramatically. Fox was wearing clothing similar to Grey, and Raven was wearing jeans and a rock t-shirt. He was carrying a guitar case.

“We’re up,” Fox said as Clara finished her song and took a bow. 

“Find someplace to watch,” Collin said to Luke with a huge grin. “On the dance floor or at a table, or even the corner if you want. I want your honest opinion on how shitty we are, okay?”

“All right,” he said. For a couple seconds he stood there awkwardly. He looked around, recognizing some people from school. 

“You must be Collin’s brother!” shouted a light, female voice. Luke turned around with a start, finding himself staring at a girl and a boy. The girl had straight black and purple hair, lots of dark makeup, and was wearing a skin-tight purple lace dress that left little to the imagination. Luke blushed all the way up to his ears when the girl hugged him.

She smelled like flower blossoms and vanilla. 

“Um, yeah,” he said nervously. “I’m Luke.”

“I’m Vandina,” she said sweetly. She nodded to the boy at her side. His hair was long and dark and pulled back. He had pale skin and hypnotic gold eyes. And he was pretty, as pretty as she was. Luke swallowed hard. “And this Verum, my boyfriend.”

“You guys know my brother?” he asked them.

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a little blush. “We know all the Howl guys. Hey, you’re gonna love hearing them sing. Fox is a natural and your brother is beautiful.”

Luke didn’t quite know what to say, so he nodded. Vandina smiled, gave his cheek a little kiss, and then left with her boyfriend. He watched them go and backed into the crowd before turning to find a place he could see the stage. Collin and Raven were tuning their guitars while Grey set up on the drums. Fox was talking to them, about what, Luke didn’t know. 

He found an empty table and sat down, looking around nervously, hoping he wasn’t stealing someone’s table. But he had a good view and that’s all he cared about. He watched the people around him. They were dancing and talking and kissing and hugging. There was a lot of body contact going on. He blushed again.

He was so busy people-watching that when the music started, he jumped. Luke turned his attention to the stage and couldn’t stop a large smile from spreading across his face. The music started quiet, and Fox’s voice was deep and soft, drifting into the crowd. 

It was a love song, Luke realized as he leaned his chin in his hand and listened. A love song to the night to be exact, talking about the stars and the darkness, the lure of the shadows and loneliness of the moon. It was beautiful and enticing and Luke found himself falling into the song, losing sight of where he was, completely engulfed.

Collin’s voice joined Fox’s on the chorus, and Luke closed his eyes, comforted by the soft harmony and haunting lyrics. He had no idea that when his brother said he was in a band, that it was this kind of music. He had always imagined they would in a garage screaming rock music.

Though as it turned out, that was the next song; loud and punk with the boys having a good time along with the people on the dance floor. Luke was really starting to relax when someone stepped up to the table next to him. He did his best to ignore them, but they smelled like clove cigarettes and beer. He wrinkled his nose and glanced at the man.

With a start Luke realized the man was staring at him. He was tall and older, probably in his thirties, with a square chin and crooked nose and eyebrows that, for some reason, bothered Luke. He was about to slip off the stool and move away, when the man spoke.

“You’re new here,” the man said with a little grin. “I see you staring at the boys on the stage. Do you know them?”

Luke leaned back, sitting straight up on the backless stool. He tugged at the sleeves of the leather jacket, taking comfort in its warmth and the scent of his brother. Collin always smelled nice. Luke had no idea what kind of cologne he wore. “One is my brother.”

“The pretty blond, right?” the man said with a nod. “I can tell.”

The man’s large hand suddenly grabbed Luke’s, and he jolted with a start. “What—let me go, man.”

“I just want to talk to you some more,” the man said as his eyes darted to the stage. The pack hadn’t noticed him yet, and Dave grinned darkly, something flickering in his eyes. He looked at the boy and tilted his head. “Don’t you want to talk to me?”

“Seriously, let me go,” Luke said as panic started to churn in his stomach and spread through him like ice water. His heart quickened and he felt a cold sweat on his forehead. 

Dave sighed. “Obviously your brother never bothered to tell you about me. My name is Dave. Your brother and I had a bit of a disagreement a year or so ago. I just wanted to make it right. You see, I thought we had something, and I was right, we did, but he didn’t want to get to know me any better. Do you know how frustrating that is? To meet someone special and have them reject you?”

Luke thought he was going to puke. He stared at the man. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He tried to pry the older man’s fingers off his wrist. He glanced around, wondering if he screamed if someone would help him.

“Yell and I’ll kill you.”

Luke froze. He looked up at the man, who was inches from his face. “We haven’t even started yet, and you’re trying to fucking run away.”

“S-started what?”

“I’ll show you,” Dave said. He gave Luke a hard pull, jerking him off the stool. Dave turned, pushing through the crowd of dancers and through the low lights of the club. He felt the boy fighting against him, pulling and trying to dig his feet into the slick tile floor. But he was weightless in his grip, and before Luke knew it, they were walking down a dark hallway and past the bathrooms.

“Let me go!” Luke finally yelled his voice high with panic, not caring if that death threat was real or not. Right now his entire body was on alert, screaming at him that needed to get away. That he needed to run away. RIGHT NOW. He dug his nails into the man’s arm, clawing until there was blood everywhere, but the man didn’t even flinch. Luke lurched back and kicked his foot into the back of the man’s knee.

“Fuck!” yelled Dave as he stumbled, losing his grip.

Luke turned, feet sliding on the floor, and started to run before he was slammed into from behind, falling to the ground. A hand landed in his blond hair and Luke screamed in pain as he dragged backwards. Pain flashed behind his eyes and he bit his tongue, crying out.

“You’re just like your brother,” snarled the man as his other arm circled Luke’s chest, jerking him back. “A feisty little bitch.”

Hysteria started to take over and Luke, desperate, bit down on the man’s arm, sinking his teeth in until the man yelled and shoved him away. Luke landed on his knees, scrambling into the corner, curling forward and dry-heaving.

“You asked for this,” Dave rumbled. “When you look back on this moment, I want you to remember that this is your fault. Had you just gone along with me, then this wouldn’t be happening.”

It was the man’s voice that caught Luke’s attention. It was like gravel, rough and gnarled, and when Luke looked up, he nearly vomited again. The man in front of him was…changing. The whites of his eyes had bled black, and his teeth were jutting from his lips in a terrible snarl. Luke watched as the man’s skin seemed to melt and fur crawled over his flesh. Bones started to break and crunch, and the man was on his hands and knees as his body vibrated. His skull was starting to mutant, jutting forward, the skin of his human face stretched and ripping.

Then a horrible realization hit Luke. _This was the monster from his nightmares._ This thing, changing from a man into a monster, into a wolf, was the thing that was always hunting him, eating him alive, and torturing him. Luke let out a sharp sob and covered his mouth with his hands. 

A shadow covered him as the bipedal wolf stood over him, lips pulled back into a horrible grin. It must have been near eight feet tall, and made the hallway feel tiny. Fur caught the low lights and made the wolf’s eyes glow in the darkness. The werewolf flexed his hand, his claws glinting; the wolf ran them against the nearest wall; they cut through plaster and drywall like butter. 

Luke, realizing it was move now or die, leaped to his feet and ran.

“Get away from him!”

Luke turned as the voice broke through the werewolf’s snarl. What he saw was the werewolf lunging for him, mouth open and teeth flashing, but then something else happened. Someone leaped between him and the monster, taking the hit and slamming into the floor and then the wall with a terrible cry. Luke thought he saw his brother somewhere in the shadows, but it was just another monster. A scream and a snarl filled the air, making his ears ring. He shook his head, stumbling backwards and into a door. He shoved it open and ran out into the night.

Luke didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t care where he was going; he just needed to get away. Behind him he could hear snarls echoing off the close walls between the buildings, mixed with the muffled loud music from the club. His brain was scrambled, trying to process everything he’d seen. It had to be a trick, it had to be a lie, and it had to be anything but true.

But it was true, wasn’t it? Monsters were real.

Luke’s lungs were burning and his skin flushed and he was exhausted as he reached a dead-end. He slid to a stop and leaned over on, hands on his knees, gasping for every breath while choking and vomiting on the ground. He gasped, but it came out a sob, and he choked again, stumbling backwards before falling to his knees as he tried to focus on breathing and not getting sick again.

There was a sound in the darkness. Luke’s head came up so fast he heard a snap. He stared into the darkness, eyes huge as he struggled to look into the shadows. Something was there, he could hear it breathing. He tried to stand, but his legs were shaking too badly, and he fell back on his tailbone, back pressed against the wall behind him.

Fear washed over him, making him flinch at every shadow, every little sound. His heart started to hammer in his ears and black splotches started to spot his vision. Realizing he was about to pass out he fell forward onto his hands and knees, pressing his forehead into the ground. “Breathe, breathe,” he told himself, focusing on the mantra.

Tears streamed from his eyes, down his face and he lifted his head with a loud sniffle. He blinked the tears from his eyes when he locked eyes with the shadows in front of him. He gasped.

From the shadows stepped a giant white wolf. Luke sat back, back to the wall again, frozen as the wolf stood in front of him. Its fur was white, streaked with blood. The wolf’s eyes were a deep, chocolate brown, and stared at him, seeming to see through straight into his soul. The wolf tilted its head and a low whine sounded from it.

Luke took a sharp breath, wincing when his voice came out as another sob. He shook his head, raising his hand ward off the massive wolf that was walking toward him. Luke closed his eyes tight, tears running down his face, when the wolf nudged his palm with its nose.

Luke’s eyes snapped open and he stared at the wolf. It nuzzled his palm and then lay down, resting its chin on his knee as another high whine sounded from it. Luke stared at the massive creature as it lay in front of him, looking up at him with intelligent eyes.

And for some reason, when the revelation hit him, it didn’t seem crazy. He could smell the wolf now, and it smelled so familiar. And its eyes, deep brown with little speckles of gold, were eyes he’d seen a million times. The way the wolf was looking at him, desperation mixed with fear and a touch of hope. Luke knew this wolf.

“Collin?” Luke asked as he shook his head. “Is that you?”

The wolf’s ears flicked and it stood up. It was taller than Luke when he was sitting and he leaned back in surprise. The wolf pressed its massive head against Luke’s shoulder. Luke gasped, trembling, waiting for the wolf to rip out his throat. Instead it licked him.

Luke slumped back against the wall as block spots appeared in front of him again. He met the wolf’s eyes, and reached up to touch it’s face, before darkness covered him and he slumped to the ground.

…

Luke woke to the sound of panicked voices and the squealing of tires. Opening his eyes he found himself sitting in the backseat of someone’s car and could see the city lights blurring by as they drove. Around him he heard voices, and he frowned, staring at the seat in front of him. Someone had strapped the seatbelt across his chest, it was the only reason he was sitting up.

“You’re sure we lost him?”

“Yeah, Raven and I took care of him. He’s not chasing us.”

Luke turned his head to the seat next to him. Grey was lying there not moving, his head in Collin’s lap, who was holding onto the other boy. Grey’s clothing was shredded and slick with blood; he could smell it now, taste it in his throat. 

“Where are we going?” Collin asked. “He needs help now; we can’t wait to get home.”

“I know a place,” Fox said.

“Where?”

“Somewhere safe.”

“Fuck, we need to hurry.”

“I know, calm down and breathe, okay?”

“I am breathing.”

“No, you’re not. Sit back and breathe, okay? Breathe deep.”

The voices stopped and Luke closed his eyes, trying to clear his thoughts. He was with his friends. Everyone was okay. But Grey…Grey was hurt really bad. Luke wanted to ask, wanted to help, but he couldn’t muster the energy to move. He frowned.

The car stopped with a lurch and Luke opened his eyes, brought back to reality. They were at an old apartment building. He struggled with the seatbelt and glanced at Collin. They both looked like they wanted to speak, but right now they didn’t have time.

“Fox, you need to carry him,” Collin said as he got out of the car. Luke slipped out the other door, bumping shoulders with Raven, who gently touched his back.

“Yeah, here,” Fox said as he shoved a keycard into Collin’s hand. He gently pulled Grey out of the backseat and into his arms, carrying him bridal-style. “Room 114B.”

They went into the building and took the elevator to the third floor. Collin unlocked the room with the keycard and the group hurried inside. It was an extremely small apartment. The door opened to the kitchen, and they walked past it to the larger main room which had a sofa facing one wall where an empty entertainment hutch sat, with a bed in the opposite corner. There was an open door leading to a small bathroom attached to a closet.

“Luke,” Collin said as Fox carried Grey into the living room and laid him on the floor. “Come here, wait here, okay?” he said as he grabbed his brother hand and pulled him into the kitchen. There was an old fridge and microwave on the counter, but nothing else. “Sit here on the floor, just wait here. Please, just wait.”

Luke did as told, too exhausted to argue, sitting in the corner with his knees to his chest.

Collin left him there and went back out into the main room where the others were. Grey was lying on the floor, unconscious. Fox and Raven had pulled off Grey’s bloody, ripped up shirt to expose the massive bite wound on his side.

“There should be a first aid kit in the bathroom,” Fox said as he stood to find it. “Raven can you get some water and a couple towels from the kitchen.”

Collin sat with Grey, pulling his head into his lap and running his fingers through his messy, sweaty hair. Raven went to the kitchen and found a large bowl and filled it with warm water. Luke ignored him from where he sat, curled into a ball.

“Okay, got it,” Fox said as they came back together. First they wiped the wound clean with the warm water, which made Grey groan in pain, and then heavily bandaged it. Fox could have stitched it, but it was already starting to heal.

He had some heavy bruises from being slammed into the wall and then the floor by Dave in his werewolf fur, and he was going to be in a lot of pain in the morning. Collin closed his eyes, remembering back to Moonbeam. Collin had been hit with a horrible feeling and forced the band off the stage early, only to catch Luke’s terrified scent over the crowd. They had followed it to the back, seeing Dave just as he was about to attack the boy.

Grey had thrown himself between Luke and the werewolf, taking the hit. It would have killed Luke. Collin remembered Grey screaming in pain, and it made him shiver.

“I’m taking your shirt off, Collin,” Fox said from behind him, gently ripping away the bloody fabric to gently tend the wound on his shoulder. Collin had leaped at Dave mid-Change and taking a swipe to his shoulder. 

Many wounds healed in the Change, but wounds made by other werewolves always stayed longer. And they were young yet. They could heal almost anything, but it still took time. When they were older things like this wouldn’t bother them at all.

He shivered, feeling the soft brush of Fox’s tongue over the puncture marks before he stuck a large bandage to it. “You’ll be fine by morning.”

Collin smiled and nodded, leaning down to lick the blood off Grey’s forehead. Raven had taken Dave head-on and didn’t have a scratch on him. The black wolf was swift and his skills as a wolf surpassed Fox’s by far. After they had chased Dave off he had followed Collin down the alley to hunt Luke, but had remained in the shadows to not scare the boy anymore than he already was.

Fox had cuts on his arm and chest but it was nothing to worry over. Collin turned to him, pulling Fox’s shirt up so he could lick at the wounds on his chest. Fox shuddered; combing his fingers through Collin’s ever paling hair. He nuzzled the top of his head and kissed his ear. 

Raven checked the locks on the door and the scent in the hall, but decided they were safe enough to breathe.

“Where are we, anyway?” Raven asked as he and Fox moved Grey onto the sofa.

“A friend’s place,” Fox said. “She always keeps an apartment for when she’s in the city. She gave me the key the last time, saying if I needed a place to crash, I was free to use it.”

Collin looked at the blood stains on the carpet. “Think she’ll notice?”

“Maybe just a little,” Fox said as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Where is Luke?”

“In the kitchen.”

“Is he hurt?”

“Just bruised and scared,” Collin said. 

“There’s no putting this conversation off, Collin,” Fox said gently. “Go talk to him.”

He stepped into the kitchen, finding Luke where he had left him, curled up in the corner. Anxious guilt rushed through him and Collin almost backed out of the kitchen, almost tried to run away from out of pure fear, before he steeled himself and crossed the small room.

“You’re not hurt, are you?” he asked.

Luke looked up. He relaxed his legs, stretching them out in front of him. After a moment he shook his head. “Just scared,” he said. His face was white. “Really scared.”

“There’s something I need to tell you. And I’m sorry that I…I haven’t. I’ve been wanting to tell you, Luke. But I’m a coward. There is no forgiving that I’ve kept this front you for so long,” he said as he sat down next to his brother. Their shoulders touched. “We’re werewolves.”

Luke pulled on the sleeves of the leather jacket he was still wearing. Then he frowned and looked at his brother. “We?”

“Remember when I tried to kill myself? That was after the first time I Changed into one. I was going through the same things you are right now: the nightmares and the mood swings and the sickness,” Collin said. “Then during the full moon I first transformed into a wolf. I was…I was on my own and I didn’t know what happened or why. I just knew that it hurt and I was scared and I thought I was losing my mind. That’s why I tried to kill myself. I was so fucking scared. I didn’t know what to do.”

Luke started shaking his head. “You said we. You mean…who else?”

“You,” Collin said. “You too, Luke.”

“You’re not lying are you?” Luke asked as tears started to build in his eyes. “And the guys?”

“They’re werewolves, too,” he said. “All of us are.”

“And that man…from the club?”

Collin’s eyes darkened and he nodded. “That’s Dave. I should have told you more about him. I should have been honest, because he was the one outside the house that day. Dave is a werewolf too, but he’s a monster, Luke. He’s dangerous and he’ll hurt everyone he comes across.”

“Why did he try to hurt me?” Luke asked. “He said something about you.”

“Because I made the mistake one time of talking to the wrong person,” Collin said. “But now you know who he is, and he knows that the pack can take him on. I’m not saying he won’t come back, but if you ever see him again, you just need to run.”

“So I’m a werewolf,” Luke said, licking his chapped lips. “How? I wasn’t ever bit. Is that how it works? Like the movies?”

Collin sighed and felt exhaustion weighing him down. “There is a lot we need to talk about. A lot. But right now…I’m so fucking tired.”

“I am, too,” Luke said. Then he tilted his head and gave Collin a soft smile. “And you’re not a coward. And I do forgive you. This is…a lot. And if I hadn’t…seen what I did.” He shrugged. “Who knows how this talk would be going.”

Collin felt something warm in his chest and he smiled tearfully, pulling Luke into a hug. They clung to each other for a few minutes, just breathing in each other’s mingling scents and relaxing. Luke yawned loudly.

“Let’s get some sleep, okay? We’re safe here.” He stood, reaching for Luke’s hand and pulled him to his feet. Luke leaned against him and closed his eyes sleepily. “Let’s go join the rest of our pack.” 

Raven was stretched out on the floor with a blanket and pillow on the floor near the couch. Fox had tucked a blanket around Grey, who was sleeping quietly. Luke stared at Grey, his pale and bruised face, and remembered what happened at the club.

“He saved my life,” Luke said. “He stopped Dave.”

“Yeah,” he said. “He’ll be okay.”

Fox had been standing at the window, looking out over the city. He turned and smiled softly at Luke. “We’re safe here,” he told Luke. “No one is going to find us.”

Luke crawled onto the bed with a heavy sigh. He curled up as the lights turned off. Fox lay down behind him and Collin in front of him. He burrowed beneath the blankets and closed his eyes. He expected to be wired with fear, he expected a panic attack in the dark, but there was only quiet, and his body was growing warm and sleepy.

Luke wondered, lying there between two warm, sleeping bodies, why this had to happen to him. But it hadn’t just happened to him, it had happened to his brother first. He remembered Collin just before the suicide attempt. The terror in his face, the fear and the vulnerability; Collin had gone through something horrible and had snapped. Now Luke knew why, and it was as comforting as it was disturbing.

Monsters were real, and they were the monsters. He pictured the werewolf Dave in his mind. All hulking muscle and terrible teeth and long claws. Grey had thrown himself in front of Luke to save his life, and the other three had scared the werewolf off. 

Collin had said ‘our pack.’ Wolves lived in tight-knit family packs, and Luke wondered if the same went for werewolves. Because these three guys had been treating him like a friend for just a week now, they were accepting him as family. Because they were his pack. He could feel that in his chest, and it made him feel safe.

He pictured Collin in his mind, all glowing white fur speckled with ruby flecks of blood. Collin had definitely not been scary to look at. He’d been a wolf on four legs, just quite larger than any wolf that lived. He’d been cautious and careful, gentle to not frighten Luke any more than he already was. And he’d been beautiful, shockingly beautiful. 

And someday he’d be able to do that? To become a wolf? As sleep started to take hold, Luke couldn’t help but think that that might not be so bad.


	7. Three's Company

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for not updating last week, I wasn't feel the best. Enjoy and again, thanks for reading! xoxo

Grey woke with a little start. He frowned as he rubbed his eyes and slowly started to sit up. He was lying on a rather uncomfortable couch and was covered with a blanket that smelled like mothballs. He pushed the blanket off his chest and looked down at the bandages across his ribs. He frowned, rubbing between his eyes, as he tried to remember what happened and why he was here.

Oh, right, he ended up a chew-toy for Dave. But to save Luke—

He lurched off the couch, only to stumble over Raven who had been asleep on the floor. Raven sat up, tripping Grey, who ran into the wall with a groan.

“Grey—what the hell—“

“Why are you asleep on the floor?”

“Because there wasn’t enough room in the bed,” Raven said with a frown as he pushed his long black hair over his shoulder. He rubbed his arm where Grey had stepped on him.

Grey looked across the small apartment and saw the bed. Fox and Collin were sitting up, looking at him, and between them, he could see Luke, still asleep.

Feeling suddenly weak, Grey stumbled back to the couch and sat down, hand pressed against his ribs. Raven stood up and stretched. “It’s about four in the morning.”

“I want to go home,” Grey said. He knew he sounded a little whiny, but he thought he had earned it, and he wanted his bed and his pajamas and to take a hot shower.

“Me too,” Collin said softly. 

Fox looked at him and nodded. “All right. We’ll swing by Moonbeam for your car.”

Collin shook Luke’s shoulder to wake him. “Luke, we’re going home.”

Luke yawned and blinked sleepily. “Which home?”

“Our home,” Fox said as he stood.

The pack left the apartment and piled back into Fox’s car. First they stopped back at Moonbeam so Collin could get his car. Luke crawled into the backseat, falling back to sleep while Collin followed Fox back through the city and out into the country and to the Howl house.

Instead of waking Luke again, Fox picked him up and carried him from the car and up to his bedroom. Then he and Collin curled up in bed again, falling back to sleep, while Grey and Raven retreated to their own bedrooms.

Five hours later the pack was waking up again. Fox wanted coffee more than anything and went down to the kitchen. First he let the dogs out and turned on the morning news. He was leaning back against the counter, listening to the coffee maker as it gurgled, when the news woman started her morning report. What he heard was not comforting.

“What’s that face for?” Collin asked as he shuffled into the kitchen. He had pulled on Fox’s housecoat and had braided his hair.

“There were two bodies found in The Burns last night,” Fox said.

Collin felt his chest tighten. “Dan and Mary?”

“No, your neighbors,” Fox said. “Um, the Applegates?”

Collin frowned. “Dave.”

“The police said it wasn’t a robbery. Just that someone had broken into their house and slaughtered them.” He frowned shaking his head. “They said it matches a string of murders all the way here from Los Vegas. They’re thinking serial killer.”

“Well, they aren’t exactly wrong,” Collin said. He curled his hands into fists and shook his head. “He’s never going to go away, is he?”

...

Grey woke with a headache. Was it another headache, or the same headache from when they had been in the city? He didn’t know, or really care. He rolled over, pressing his face into the pillows and sighing heavily. The room was lightly lit by the late morning sun shining against the curtains, and he could hear birds singing outside his window.

He could smell coffee and decided it sounded wonderful. He stumbled out of bed and jerked on a clean pair of sweatpants and a pale blue shirt. Leaving the bedroom he headed for the kitchen, which was currently empty. After pouring himself a cup of coffee and adding cream and sugar he let the dogs in and filled their food dishes and gave them fresh water. 

Grey glanced out the front door and saw Fox and Collin sitting in the swing on the porch. Deciding to give them their privacy, he turned his attention upstairs, following Luke’s scent up to Fox’s bedroom. As quietly as possible he opened the door and peered inside.

The curtains were pulled, keeping the light out, and it was a little hot in the room. Grey left the door open to cool it off as he walked in, looking at the pack’s new puppy, which was hidden under a pile of blankets. 

There was no easy way into the werewolf world unless you were born into a pack like Raven had been. Grey’s own experience had been the worst moment of his life. He’d come to terms years ago that the guilt of what he’d done was just something he would have to live with. 

Grey had asked Raven if it was possible that Collin and Luke had been born werewolves like he was, but Raven had shaken his head, saying that the first time they met Collin, he hadn’t any werewolf scent at all. All children born from werewolves carried the scent of werewolf and didn’t go through the horrific nightmares and sickness that Luke and Collin were, because they weren’t born human. 

Grey sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling a bit dizzy yet. He took a moment to clear his head and drink his coffee, when he felt movement in the bed. Looking over his shoulder he watched Luke roll over and yawn, before sitting up in surprise.

His blond hair was sticking up every which way. It made Grey smile softly into his coffee cup. He lifted it slightly. “Morning, Luke.”

“Oh, yeah,” Luke said as he lay back again. He kicked some of the blankets off and rolled over, facing Grey. He was quiet as Grey looked him over. His face was no longer bruised and any bruises he may have received last night when Dave roughed him around were healing quickly. Luke blinked slowly and let out a long breath.

“So, what’s up?” he asked.

Grey shrugged and took another drink of his coffee. “I was just checking up on you. I don’t… Well, I was kind of out of it last night. How did um, it go? How are you?”

Luke smiled softly. “I know that you’re a werewolf.”

“Woah, what? That’s news to me!” Grey said with wide eyes. But Luke only laughed and Grey shrugged. “Yeah. So I guess that the wolf is out of the bag, huh?”

“You saved my life,” Luke said softly. “Thank you.”

Grey felt his cheeks tint and he shrugged again. “Oh—it was nothing, Luke.”

He sat up and stretched. “You were pretty hurt last night. Are you okay?”

“I’m healing,” Grey said as he pressed his hand against his ribs. “I’m just glad you’re okay. That guy, Dave, he’s a pervert and a freak. I hope the guys kicked his ass.”

“They did,” Luke said. 

“There’s more coffee downstairs if you wanted some.”

“I’m not a fan of coffee, but I could go for some breakfast.”

“Damn, me too,” Grey said as he stood. “Let’s go make some.”

Luke hopped from the bed. He had changed his clothing in the morning when they had arrived here, wanting out of Collin’s ill-fitting outfit and into Fox’s pajamas, which while they were too big, were much more comfortable. He followed along behind Grey. 

They headed down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Grey went for the refrigerator but Luke turned, glancing into the living room. He was glad he wasn’t holding anything, or he would have dropped it.

Fox was sitting on the couch with Collin straddling his lap. They were kissing, their skin was flushed, and Fox had his hands up the back of Collin’s shirt. Luke made a little strangled noise and the two turned to look at him.

“Shit,” Collin asked as he leaned back.

“Hey Luke,” Fox said with little sigh. He pulled his hands away from Collin, who was struggling to get out of his lap. “Um, sleep well?”

Luke didn’t answer, too busy staring at his brother, who was blushing darkly and pulling at his braided hair nervously. He tilted his head before he said, “Um.”

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Grey asked as he stepped next to Luke. 

Collin sighed. “Luke caught us.”

“Doing what?”

“What do you think, idiot?”

Grey glanced at Luke and patted his shoulder. “Oh, and your brother is gay.”

Luke looked at Grey in surprise, then back to Collin, who was now scowling at Grey. Luke chewed his lip as he thought about it. It did make sense, when he thought about it. Collin was attractive, and lots of girls always seemed to flirt with him, and they talked about him, but he’d never had a girlfriend. He looked at Fox, who blushed.

“With Fox?”

“Mm-hm,” Collin hummed as he glanced at his toes. “I was going to tell you.”

Luke shrugged. “It makes sense. I mean, you two are like, so close.”

“So much closer than you think—“

“Grey!”

“Sorry.”

“Anyway,” Collin said as he stepped into the kitchen. “Are you mad?”

“No,” Luke said after a moment. “No just…don’t do that in front of me. You’re my brother. It’s kind of awkward.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty gross.”

“Seriously, Grey!”

…

Okay, so maybe it was a little weird that Collin was with Fox. But Luke had come to the conclusion that it wasn’t weird because Collin was gay, but because he was in a relationship and that Luke had walked in on a rather intimate moment. 

No one wanted to see their sibling sucking face with someone. 

He was sitting outside the pack’s house in the porch swing. It was evening and fireflies were dancing over the yard, blinking in and out, bright like the stars he could see above the tree tops. There was an orange, woven blanket on the swing and Luke pulled it around himself. His feet were bare he pulled them up, sitting Indian style. He had a bowl of food in his hands; sweet and sour chicken with vegetables and rice. Luke couldn’t deny that Grey was a fantastic cook. 

But he was having some difficulties with the chopsticks. After trying to stab his food he gave up and plucked a piece of chicken out of the bowl with his fingers.

The screen door swung open and Collin stepped outside. He handed Luke a fork.

“You read my mind,” Luke said with a smile.

Collin sat down next to him. “How is it?”

“Really good,” he said as he ate a mouthful of food. There was a bottle of flavored water on the bench next to him. “So, can we talk some more?”

Collin nodded. “Sure, anything you want.”

“Fox’s parents don’t live here, do they?” he asked. “I was wandering around the house earlier and I didn’t see another bedroom or any like, family pictures.”

“No, they don’t,” Collin said. “When Fox was bitten and became a werewolf, his parents, who are very powerful people, sent him away, not wanting him to tarnish their image. Not that they would have let out the secret that he was a werewolf, but it was enough that they wanted him out of their life.”

“That’s terrible,” Luke said. His stomach turned as he thought about. “They just sent him away? All by himself? How does that even work?”

He shrugged. “With enough money and connections, you can do anything.”

“I guess,” he said as he mixed with rice with his chicken. “And Grey said he’d been homeless before he came here. What about Raven?”

“Raven’s reasons for leaving his home pack haven’t even been told to us,” Collin admitted. “So we don’t question why he’s here. And Grey’s story is very personal. I mean…all our life-stories are, I guess.”

“No, I get it,” Luke said. “Um, what about um, werewolves.”

“What about werewolves?”

Luke bit his lip and tried to pick one of the questions rolling around in his brain. “I’ve already caught on that werewolves are um, like, secret. And I know from movies that it’s a don’t-tell-anyone situation. But…when will I become a wolf?”

“I don’t think for a while now,” Collin said. “I was sixteen when it first happened.”

“Until it happens I’ll keep getting sick and stuff, won’t I?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s it like to do that? It looks…horrible.”

“To become a wolf? It is horrible,” Collin said. “I won’t sugar-coat it. It does hurt a fucking lot. And you won’t have control for a long time. It’s going to be the worse pain you’ll have to experience. But the end result is worth it. It’s amazing, Luke. I can’t even describe it to you. And the pain does kind of start to dim. It never goes away, but it’s something you’ll look forward to someday.”

Luke nodded as he picked at his food. Then he was shaking his head and said, “This is crazy, you know that?”

“Yeah, I am aware of that.”

“I heard about the Applegates,” Luke said. “Do you think it was Dave?”

“I’m sure it was.”

“Will he try to get into our house?” Luke asked worriedly. “I can’t help but think this was some kind of threat.”

“Oh, it was,” Collin said. “If I had my way, we wouldn’t go back; we’d stay here where it’s safe. But Mary would never let that happen. I already talked to her today. She’s was a bit hysterical. And I think she might think I did it.”

Luke frowned and stared at his brother. “She thinks you killed our neighbors?”

“I think if it was still acceptable to burn people at the stake for witchcraft, I’d be dead by now,” Collin said with a little shrug. “Everything is always my fault.”

“Well, she’s just…” Luke said with a shake of his head, “a little nuts.”

“Just a little.”

“So, tell me more about um, werewolves.”

Collin leaned back in on the bench. It was growing chilly so he sat closer to Luke so they could share the blanket. “Okay. Well, first off the movies did get some things right. We do Change at the full moon, but eventually you’ll learn to Change on your own. We can lose ourselves in the wolf, meaning we will hunt and kill whatever we find. However we are not vulnerable to silver, but there is a poison that can be made from the wolfsbane plant.”

Luke glanced at his brother. “Have you ever killed anyone?”

He hesitated. He didn’t want to lie anymore to Luke. So he nodded. “Yeah, I have. I don’t remember it, I wasn’t myself. But I know that I have killed. Who it was, I don’t know.”

“How do you know then?” 

“I used to have nightmares about it,” Collin said quietly. He picked at the fabric of the blanket before turning his wrist over, looking at the scars there. “It’s faded over time, but I refused to forget it. Just because I was lost inside the wolf doesn’t excuse me from the guilt.”

Luke didn’t know what to say. “You’re not a bad person,” he whispered. Collin may have done something horrible, but it wasn’t his fault. He looked across the yard, watching the fireflies dance, when he saw a pair of glowing eyes watching from the tree line. Luke flinched. “Something is out there.”

Collin looked up and nodded. “I can see him. It’s Raven.”

“Raven?” he whispered. He watched as the black wolf crossed the yard, sniffing at the ground and flicking his big ears. Suddenly he frowned. “Hey! That’s the wolf that tackled me into the ground!”

The wolf looked up and snorted, flicking his tail.

“Yeah,” Collin said with a little laugh. “You kind of got in the way of his hunting. He’s very sorry.” The wolf cocked its head and Collin arched an eyebrow. “You _are_.”

“Can you talk to him?”

“Not like this,” Collin said. “When we’re wolves, we can talk to each other. I can’t really…okay, it’s kind of like telepathy, like what you read about in your comic books? But we can’t read each other’s minds or anything.”

Luke nodded, his eyes not leaving the giant wolf that was walking through the yard. He flinched when Collin called out to the wolf, “Hey, come up here.”

“H-he doesn’t have to,” Luke stammered nervously. But the black wolf was already crossing the yard to them. Luke set his empty bowl of food on the swing beside him and twisted his hands together as the wolf stepped up onto the porch. 

The wolf was huge and black, with blue eyes that glowed in the low lights of the porch. The black wolf stepped up to the swing, ignoring Collin, instead pushing his nose against Luke’s hands. Frightened, Luke jerked his hands back.

“He’s not going to bite you, dork,” Collin said with a laugh. To demonstrate, he reached over and patted the wolf’s back, “You can touch him.”

“He…he’ll let me?” Luke asked as he locked eyes with the wolf, unable to look away.

“Honestly, Raven hates to be touched when he’s a wolf,” Collin said with a shrug, “he says he’s not a dog, but a majestic badass wolf—“

The wolf growled, throwing a glare at Collin.

“—but I think he’s making an exception for you. So hop to it before he loses his patience.”

Luke swallowed hard and nodded. Slowly he reached out and let his fingers graze along the wolf’s cheek. He expected Raven to bite him. Honestly, he expected to lose fingers or maybe his entire hand, but none of that happened. Instead the black wolf closed his eyes and leaned into the soft touch.

He smiled, petting his hand over the wolf’s ears and down his neck. Raven moved closer, letting Luke run his finger down his back and scratch an itch on his shoulder. Raven rested his head on Luke’s knee and closed huffed a little sigh.

“Not so scary, is he?” Collin asked with a smile.

“Yeah, actually,” Luke said with a little blush. “But…but he won’t hurt me, so I guess…he’s not scary right now. I mean…I don’t know.” He continued to pet the black wolf, running his hands over his head and ears, and down his neck. He knew Raven wasn’t a dog, he was a werewolf, and his packmate, but it didn’t seem too weird, doing this. He smiled. “You’re so pretty.”

The wolf huffed again, his tail flicking, before stepping away. He licked at Luke’s hands before turning and sniffing at Luke’s empty bowl of food.

“Grey made Chinese,” Collin said, “we put some in the microwave for you.”

The wolf nodded and loped down the porch steps back into the yard. After a short howl the wolf disappeared into the trees, swallowed by the night. 

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Collin asked.

“Not really.”

“Your real problem is going to be Grey.”

Luke glanced worriedly at his brother. “Why?”

“Because he forgets he’s a two-hundred pound wolf and he’ll tackle you,” Collin said with a little grin. “He forgets he’s a werewolf and acts like a puppy.”

“Oh,” he said with a little laugh. 

“Ready to go inside?”

Luke hummed and stood, taking the blanket and his bowl and water bottle with him. Inside the house Grey and Fox were playing Xbox, snapping and cursing at each other. Collin went and sat beside Fox on the couch, sitting closer now that the secret was out. Luke watched them, head slightly tilted. 

Yes, it made sense when he saw them together. Fox was the one that Collin turned to in the hospital, and Luke knew it wasn’t just because he was a werewolf. They were in love. It was so obvious now that Luke didn’t know how he didn’t see it before.

Going into the living room he sat down on the floor with the dogs, who greeted him happily, pushing various toys into his hands for him to throw. After spending time with Raven in his wolf fur, the huskies looked so much smaller.

“The dogs don’t mind that you’re um, werewolves?” Luke asked.

“Naw,” Grey said from where he sat, furiously tapping at the buttons on the game controller. “Most animals will shy away from us, especially cats. They fucking hate us. Oh, goddammit!”

“Booyah, bitch!” Fox shouted triumphantly.

“Rematch!!”

…

“You suck at this!”

Luke wrinkled his nose. He and Collin were playing games now, sitting on the floor in front of the television. Grey was stretched out on the couch behind them, sometimes he would pull at Collin’s hair to distract him, and Fox was lying on the floor with his head resting on Collin’s leg. He looked like he was asleep.

“Grey, stop breathing on my neck,” Collin hissed.

“I’m not doing anything,” Grey said innocently as he watched Collin’s character in the game fumble.

Luke had a blanket around his shoulders and one of the dogs was asleep in his lap, curled up in one big ball of fluff. The other dog was asleep against Fox and Collin. Luke growled in annoyance as he again missed the shot to kill Collin’s character.

The screen door snapped shut behind them and Luke stole a glance and saw that it was Raven. He was tugging on a long-sleeved shirt and was wearing jean shorts. 

Raven went to the microwave and heated up the food the rest of the pack had left him. He grabbed a bottle of green tea from the refrigerator and went to join the others in the den. He sat down in his chair and stirred his food together.

“Nice night?” Grey asked as he sat up, legs on either side of Collin, and started to French braid his hair.

“Yes,” Raven said. Luke had already caught on that Raven wasn’t one for small talk.

Collin sat still while Grey did his hair, before he finally tracked down Luke’s character and killed him with an assault of bullets and a grenade to top it off.

“Ta-da!”

Luke pouted. “You kicked my ass.”

Collin smiled triumphantly and then tried to glance back at Grey. “You done yet?”

“One second,” he said as he took a hair tie from his wrist and finished off Collin’s hair. “Now I am.”

Luke leaned back to look at Collin’s hair and glanced at Grey. “You do hair?”

“Why are you surprised?”

“Well, your hair…”

Grey sat up as his jaw dropped. Fox started to chuckle from where he lay on the floor. “What about my hair?” he asked, offended.

Luke shrugged and looked away. “Nothing. It’s great.”

Collin leaned down, placing a kiss on Fox’s hair. “I think it’s time for bed.”

“I can sleep on the couch,” Luke offered. 

“No, it’s okay,” Fox said as he stood, taking Collin’s hand and pulling him to his feet. Grey waved and Raven finished his food and went to the kitchen to rinse out his dishes.

Luke stood and shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. To be honest he didn’t want to sleep down here on the couch even though he knew it was safe here. Collin had told him earlier that Dave didn’t know where the pack lived. And even though this was a house full of werewolves, Luke still couldn’t look outside into the pitch black night and not feel a little tingle of fear rush up his spine.

He chewed his lip as he walked to the windows and glanced out. When he closed his eyes he saw Dave’s face, the face of a monster, horrible and mutilated as it went through the Change. He saw teeth that meant to rip the flesh from his bones, claws that would have torn him to shreds.

“Luke?”

He jumped and turned, looking at Fox. “Hm?”

Fox smiled gently. “You don’t have to be scared, okay? No one is out there.”

“I-I’m not scared,” Luke lied. He was a terrible liar and felt his neck blush. 

“Come on, I’m exhausted.”

Luke nodded and darted after Fox. It was safe here, Luke knew that. He’d always be safe here.


	8. Darkness Descends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little heads up, there is smut in this chapter!

Luke had wanted to argue about going home so early Sunday evening. He had wanted to argue that Dave might be lurking in the neighborhood, or that Dan and Mary would have lock him in the house and he’d never get out again, but Collin had plans with Fox and Luke knew he’d been kind of a third wheel all weekend, so he’d let his brother drop him off at home.

After supper with his parents he’d showered and gone up to his bedroom. He did a quick perimeter check before he sat down on the floor with his homework.

…

Dinner had been great. Instead of going out Fox had ordered their meals to-go from his favorite steak restaurant. There had been prime rib and Cajun shrimp, baked potatoes loaded with cheese and bacon, green beans, two house salads with homemade French dressing and a basket of dinner rolls. For dessert they had slices of cheesecake with cherries on top. With Grey and Raven out of the house, and Luke back with his parents, there had been no one to interrupt their meal.

Or the real dessert.

Collin smiled coyly, leading Fox up the stairs to the bedroom. Fox kicked the door shut behind him and beheld his prey. Collin was so beautiful that sometimes Fox wondered if he was a dream. His hair, turning more and more pale every year hung in lose waves down his back and over his shoulder. His brown eyes twinkled mischievously, and his pink lips curled into a delicate smile. 

“Come here,” Fox said, his voice growing rough. He grasped Collin’s shoulders and pulled him forward to crush their lips together. Collin’s were soft and sweet, opening easily for him, and he tasted like cheesecake and cherries. Fox groaned, dipping his tongue past those plush lips and pressed harder into the kiss until their teeth clacked together. 

Heat started to burn inside Fox, and he felt it drop through his stomach and start to pool inside him, growing hotter by the second. He grunted, fingers grasping at Collin’s shirt, who seemed to sense his urgency and tugged the fabric over his head. Fox kissed down Collin’s long, pale neck, while his hands started to push away the blonde’s pants. Collin stumbled and fell back onto the bed.

Fox’s green eyes dilated, drinking in the gorgeous sight of his mate. Despite his time in the sun Collin always remained pale. He was like moonlight taken human form, radiant and perfect.

Collin kicked off his pants, leaving him in a pair of teal boyshorts that did little to cover his ass. He knelt on the bed and beckoned to Fox by crooking his finger.

“You don’t need to ask twice,” Fox said as he stumbled over his pants. He stripped down, kicking off his boxers and leaped onto the bed. Collin laughed as his shoulders hit the mattress. Fox kissed him again, sucking his lower lip between his teeth and giving him a little bite.

He scattered kisses all the way down Collin’s neck and across his collar bone, sinking his teeth in to leave an indent and sucked on the skin to leave a little bruise. He ran his hands down Collin’s body, over his torso and down between his legs and finally to his muscled thighs, parting them so he could slip between them. He humped against him while he continued to leave little bites and bruises across Collin’s chest, before he finally latched onto one of his nipples and sucked.

“Ah!” Collin gasped, body quivering. Attention was lavished between his two nipples until they ached. He opened his eyes, watching as Fox dragged his teeth down over his stomach and to the hem of his underwear.

Fox looked up, green eyes twinkling, as he slowly started to pull the shorts away. Collin was already hard and straining, his member springing free once the shorts were pulled away. Fox deliberately ignored it while he pulled the shorts down Collin’s long legs and tossed them to the floor. Then he was kissing and biting his way up each slender leg, nibbling on the pale skin.

Collin sighed happily as Fox licked the inside of his thighs. His scent was heavy and aroused, filling the small bedroom. He watched as Fox took a deep breath, inhaling the stimulated scent of his mate, and in return, Fox’s own scent started to stuff up the room. The heady scent of an alpha wolf ready to mate was enough to make Collin’s body heat up and his cock twitch in anticipation. He moaned despite his attempt to hold it back and lay back on the bed, grabbing the pillow beneath his head. “Fox,” he pleaded.

The alpha leaned over his mate, stretching his body over the other boy’s. Fox wasn’t more than an inch or two taller than Collin, but when it came to muscle and strength, he easily outclassed the other boy. He watched Collin’s eyes, bright with arousal and excitement, looking eagerly over his chest and wide shoulders and muscled arms. 

Collin leaned up and nipped at the bottom of Fox’s chin and then bit his neck. His hands splayed up Fox’s chest, feeling the muscles there, and playfully pinched at his nipples.

“Stop making me wait,” Collin grunted as he planted his feet on the bed and pushed his hips up, rubbing their hard members together. He grinned wickedly when Fox closed his eyes and shuddered. Collin bit his neck again, tasting his pheromones and sweat on his tongue. 

Fox growled; his voice deep and animalistic. He reached for the nightstand, digging around for the lubricant that he kept there for occasions like this. Collin made a soft pleased sound, like a whimper, and reached down between their bodies to take Fox’s member in his hand. He stroked it slowly, making the alpha shudder again. He froze over him, eyes closed and frowning, as Collin’s soft hand worked up and down until his cock was leaking and his muscles were tight and tense.

“You’re such a little devil,” Fox grunted as he pulled away and glared at his feisty mate. He spread some lube onto his fingers and slid his hand down between Collin’s legs and probed for his entrance. Collin wasn’t the only one who could tease. He slipped his fingers between his cheeks, but didn’t push in; he just massaged his fingers up and down, teasing but never giving Collin what he wanted.

Collin’s face was flushed and his stomach was flexing. A light layer of sweat covered his skin and strands of pale hair stuck to his neck and shoulders. He whined loudly, a desperate sound that was music to Fox’s ears. “Fox—please.”

Fox smiled smugly. He would have loved to tease him some more, make him beg for it, but he was growing impatient himself, and his cock was starting to ache. He pushed a finger inside, rubbing and twisting, before adding another. Collin made a sound, a low moan that ended in a gasp and started to thrust his hips, searching for more.

“I need you—“ Collin gasped. His cock twitched against his stomach and his muscles tensed. “Please Fox.”

Fox nodded, unable to find his voice. He covered his hard member in lube, hissing at the cool touch and friction created by his hand. Then he seized Collin’s thighs, spreading them wide, and started to move into him.

Collin tensed, eyes closing and a frown wrinkling his forehead. Fox kissed his tender lips as he pushed in until he was as far in as he could go. Collin’s tight heat was suffocating, and Fox gasped, tucking his face into Collin’s neck. His mate’s scent flooded his senses, shocking him for a moment as he breathed deep. Gentle fingers combed through his sweaty hair and Collin was pressing a kiss against his ear.

He started to thrust, slow at first, until the friction and the heat were too much, too inviting and too perfect, and started to pivot his hips, harder and harder. Collin was moaning beneath him, his voice soft and breathy. Fox leaned over him, watching as Collin’s body moved with every thrust. 

Fox grunted, bowing his head, every thrust bringing him closer and closer to completion. Collin was moaning beneath him, his voice catching in a cry when Fox nipped at his neck. “Fox,” he cried. “Fox, Fox.”

“I love it when you say my name like that,” Fox groaned as he angled his thrusts, hitting Collin’s sweet spot. The boy let out a sob, his entire body shuddering. Fox continued to pound into him, hitting that spot over and over, until Collin was scratching his nails down Fox’s back. His entire body suddenly jerked and Collin came with a sharp, loud cry.

The suddenly clench of Collin’s body threw Fox over the edge as well, and he buried his face in Collin’s neck, muffling his groans and low cries. He drove into him, thrusts somewhat jerky as his orgasm rushed through him. Collin continued to shudder beneath him, little bursts of pleasure prickling through his body as Fox’s thrusts slowed.

Then Fox slumped onto Collin, exhaustion making his limbs feel too heavy to lift. He groaned in satisfaction, planting open-mouthed, wet kisses along Collin’s neck and shoulders. He heard Collin gasp a breath and then giggle in a husky voice.

“You’re so beautiful,” Fox murmured against the sore bruises that were scattered across Collin’s chest. He kissed each one. “I love you so much.”

“Mm,” Collin hummed his voice heavy. “I love you, too.”

When Fox couldn’t ignore the sticky mess between them any longer he pulled away, carefully detaching them, and slipped out of the bed and crossed the hall to the upstairs bathroom. He returned with a warm towel and knelt on the bed, cleaning them both off.

Collin sat up. His skin was glowing and his eyes were bright with little flicks of gold. Fox felt a rush through his body and he leaned in to kiss him.

Only to have Collin lean back and shake his head.

“No,” Fox said, his voice catching somewhat, “don’t go home. Stay the night.”

“I have to go home,” Collin said with a sad expression. He turned and swung his legs over the bed before standing slowly. 

“You’ve stayed on school nights before,” Fox said as he caught Collin’s wrist.

He turned to his mate, staring at Fox who was still kneeling on the bed. Gently he cupped Fox’s face and leaned down, kissing him. Then he pressed their foreheads together. “If it wasn’t for Dave, I would.”

Fox sighed and nodded. “Will you two be safe there?”

“Yeah,” Collin said. He stepped back and searched for his clothing. “I don’t think he’d attack the house directly.”

Fox frowned and reached out to trail his fingers along Collin’s shoulder. He didn’t like the idea of his mate being alone with a feral werewolf in the area, but he had to trust that Collin could take care of himself. Truthfully, the confrontation with Dave at Moonbeam had been one of the few fights they’d had as werewolves. Most of their fighting and hunting experience came from hunting animal prey on the full moon, and sparring with each other.

“Just promise me you’ll call if anything happens,” Fox said. He found his boxers and tugged them on so he could walk Collin out of the house and to his car.

“See you in the morning,” Collin said. The night was cool and cloudy. The grass was damp and the heavy scent of rain and wet earth filled his nose. Fox pushed him back against the car and kissed him. Collin exhaled, wrapping his around Fox and kissing him back. 

He wanted to go back inside with Fox. He wanted to strip off his clothing and slip into the bed with him. Maybe they could have sex again, or just touch, or even just lay together, fitting together like two puzzle pieces. There were so many things they could do, but they couldn’t actually do any of them.

With a little nip to Fox’s lip, Collin pulled away. “Good night, Fox.”

“Good night.”

…

Before going into the house Collin did a quick perimeter check, walking around the house and looking for anything unusual or any strange scents. After finding the area clear he snuck into the house, pulling the front door shut behind him. He locked the door and then stopped to kick off his shoes.

There was a startled gasp and Collin looked up. Luke was standing at the edge of the hallway. “It’s just me,” Collin whispered.

“Oh,” Luke said softly with a relaxed breath that turned into a yawn. “How was dinner?”

“Mm, wonderful,” he said with a little smile. He walked with Luke back upstairs and they parted ways at their bedroom doors. Collin first changed into shorts and a tank-top and sat on his bed with his laptop. He had two reports to finish, which was easier said than done when it came to constantly being distracted by the internet.

But when it came time to crawl under the covers and go to sleep, Collin found himself restless and unable to drift off. He frowned, staring at his black ceiling. He tossed and turned for what felt like hours, but when he checked the time, it was only two-in-the-morning. 

He fought with the pillows, which he couldn’t seem to get comfortable with, and untangled himself from the blankets. Everything felt wrong, and he knew it was because he didn’t want to be here, he wanted to be back with Fox, wrapped up in his arms, surrounded by his rich scent and sweet kisses.

Finally Collin thrust himself out of the bed and left the bedroom. He felt parched and headed down to the kitchen for a glass of water. He thought about trying to sleep on the couch, thinking the change of scenery might help him sleep, but found that someone was already there.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked as he sat down on the couch.

“No,” Luke said. “I’m restless for some reason.” He had the television on, but had turned the volume way down. An old episode of Night Court was on.

“I know the feeling,” he said and took a long drink of cold water. But Luke didn’t seem as restless as he claimed to be. Almost immediately he was slumped back on the couch and his head was resting on Collin’s shoulder and his breathing softened. Collin took the remote control from him, letting Luke sleep there as he channel surfed.

“Infomercial, infomercial, Girls Gone Wild, news, weather, Girls Gone Wild, Girls Gone Wild…Fuck, where are the guys gone wild?” he grumbled to himself. He reached for the quilt on the back of the couch and pulled it over the two of them while propping his feet on the coffee table. He yawned and closed his eyes for a moment.

Maybe they both had just needed some company to sleep. Werewolves were a pack animal. They had strong urges to form family groups and be close to packmates at all times. Unfortunately this desire to be in a pack lead to a lot of wolves finding themselves in packs that weren’t meant for them; when confronted with a strong alpha, a lower ranking wolf sometimes couldn’t stop themselves from joining an undesirable pack. Collin knew he and the others were lucky to have the pack they did. They loved each other, and had each other’s backs. They were a family.

Lone wolves weren’t an unnatural thing. Lots of wolves remained alone until they either found a pack or a mate they wanted to live with. Sometimes alphas remained alone until they were strong enough to start and provide for a pack of their own. Lone wolf didn’t necessarily mean feral or unadjusted or violent. Not all lone wolves were psychopathic murderers like Dave, living just to inflict pain on whatever was weaker than them.

It was the sound of a dog barking that woke Collin. He jerked up with a start, eyes wide and heart in his throat. Luke woke with when Collin stood up; stumbling over the blanket they had been sharing and stubbing his toe. Luke turned, watching as Collin went and looked out the living room window.

“What’s going on?” Luke asked sleepily.

“Not sure,” Collin whispered. He went to the door, unlocking it and leaning out into the crisp night. There was more than one dog, he could smell them. He could also hear the low murmur of men’s voices. 

It wasn’t Dave, there was no scent of wolf, but something wasn’t right. Collin felt his stomach drop and start to turn as something akin to fear started to pump his adrenaline. He stepped from the house, walking down the sidewalk and looking down the street.

The wind changed just when Collin saw them, carrying their scent to him. He froze, heart hammering in his chest. There were seven men, four with dogs, walking down the middle of the street. He could smell them, could smell the ammo and wolfsbane.

_Werewolf hunters._

Collin turned, running back to the house, his pulse racing in his ears. Luke had followed him outside and Collin ran to him, pushing him back to the house. “Back inside!” he hissed quietly. “Hurry!”

“What’s wrong?!” Luke yelped as he ran back inside the door. “Is-is it Dave?”

“Worse,” Collin said as he stood in the kitchen, limbs trembling and brain buzzing with fear. He leaned his hand on the counter to keep himself up right. For a moment his brain went blank, fear rushed through him and he felt like he could pass out or throw up. “Werewolf hunters.” The words tasted wrong in his mouth and he frowned, taking a heavy breath through his nose. He had to keep breathing, he had to calm down.

Luke felt like he was going to throw up. “What?”

“They have to be hunting Dave,” Collin said as he tilted his head. The sound of dogs was getting closer. “He’s been leaving bodies everywhere he goes. They must have followed him from Los Vegas.”

Collin suddenly realized what Dave had done. He’d lead the werewolf hunters straight to their house. By killing the neighbors, the hunters would come investigate, and they would find their werewolves living right next door. Collin sucked in a breath. 

“What do we do?” Luke asked in a sharp, terrified voice. “Can we call 911?”

“I’m going to lead them away,” Collin said.

“You can’t go back out there!” Luke yelped. “Collin—you can’t leave!”

Collin grabbed Luke’s hands. “I have to. Go upstairs and hide, okay?”

Giving Luke no chance to argue, Collin went back outside and started to run. He went through backyards, heading away from the hunters. He went behind a storage shed to Change. He dropped onto the wet ground, gasping painfully as his body started to break apart inside. His lungs filled with blood and he gagged, vomiting into the grass. His bones crunched and twisted inside him, tearing muscle and nerves. His skin sprouted fur and his skull cracked and vibrated, shaping into a wolf’s skull.

Collin pushed through the Change, rushing it, making it hurt, but he was in a hurry. When completed he stood up onto four paws, shaking sweat from his solid white fur and flicking up his ears. 

The white wolf nervously stepped out from behind the shed and looked out into the street. The dogs’ main purpose was to scent a werewolf and track it for the hunters to kill. In order to accomplish their goal, especially in a suburb like this, they needed stealth and secrecy.

Luke had been right about calling 911, but it wouldn’t do for just one person to call the police. Collin needed to wake up the neighborhood and ruin the hunter’s chance at surprise, and ruin any future hunting grounds. 

With paws scraping on the damp pavement Collin rushed into the night. Everything was lit by the soft glow of yellow streetlights, but his wolf eyes saw everything clear as daylight. He had to be especially careful that the dogs didn’t follow his scent directly. What he wanted to do was wake the neighborhood.

He went to yards with outdoor dogs and riled them up until the entire neighborhood was filled with the loud barking of dogs. The dogs reacted aggressively toward Collin, as he knew they would, their scent filling the air. They pissed on their fences to mark their territory, adding more smells into the air to confuse the hunter’s hounds.

The baying hounds belonging to the hunters started to bark, riled up by the dogs in the yards and by the soft scent of werewolf. The hounds, distracted from their hunt, barked back at the dogs and lunged at him, each other, and their masters.

Collin darted underneath a large pickup truck that was parked underneath a burned out streetlight and lay down. His sides heaved with every breath he took. At the end of a block he saw a man with one of the baying hounds. Collin could see the hunter’s rifle strapped to his back, and a long knife on his hip. No doubt he carried a full arsenal under the black S.W.A.T. style armor he wore. The man was trying to shush the dog, which was lunging every which way on its chain. 

Finally lights started to flicker on in the windows. People were stepping outside, leaning out windows, and no doubt, calling the police. Collin rested his chin on the pavement, watching as homeowners spotted the men with guns and dogs. People were shouting.

His tail wagged and he slipped out from under the truck and slinked back through the yards. Carefully he avoided being seen by the people looking out their windows and doors. He could hear sirens in the distance. He prowled through yards and around trees until he could see the hunters were retreating. He hoped the police found them before they could get back into their trucks and escape.

…

Luke sat in Collin’s bedroom, white as a sheet and shaking. He was on the floor and was sitting up on his knees up to peer through the curtain out onto the street. Two men dressed in S.W.A.T. gear had been leading a dog around the Applegates’ house, circling it while the dog sniffed around. When the dog turned its attention to their house, Luke had dropped to the floor, terrified that he might be seen looking through the window.

He sat against the wall, arms wrapped around his knees and heart pounding in his chest. Around that time the neighborhood lit up like Christmas. Dogs were barking, lights were coming on in windows, and he could hear someone shouting. He looked back out the window and saw that the hunters were retreating quickly. Clearly they didn’t like being the center of attention.

“What the hell is going on outside?”

Luke heard Dan leave his bedroom and stomp down the hallway. He looked back out the window, no longer looking for hunters, instead looking for his brother. Where was Collin? Shouldn’t he be back by now? The hunters were leaving, and he could hear police sirens in the distance. The hunt had been ruined, so where was his brother?

He thought about calling Fox or Grey. He had started to text Grey a dozen times before stopping. He didn’t know what to do or say. If he brought the pack here, then wouldn’t they be in just as much danger as he and Collin were?

The door opened behind him and Luke jumped to his feet as Collin slipped in. He was sweaty and dirty and smelled horrible. But he wasn’t bloody or limping, and he looked more exhausted than anything else. Luke ran to him.

“You’re okay!” he whispered excitedly. “Are we safe? Are they gone?”

“Yeah, we’re safe,” Collin said softly. He was breathing heavily and his limbs felt like Jell-O. He was drained from the running through the streets and yards, from the Changes, and from the stress of what he’d just done. He pushed his sweaty hair from his face. 

“Why were they here in The Burns?” Luke asked, squeezing his shaking hands together.

“I have a pretty good idea,” Collin said, “but I really need to shower.”

“I’ll wait here,” he said, sinking down onto the bed as Collin left for the bathroom. He heard Dan come back and go back to bed, grumbling about some militia-looking guys walking through town with guns and dogs. The police were on them and a chase had started up outside of town.

 _Maybe they’ll all get arrested,_ Luke thought as he turned on the string lights wrapped around the headboard. He settled down into the bed, pulling a blanket around himself.

A few minutes later the door opened and Collin stepped in. He pulled on a pair of clean pajamas and then yawned loudly, flopping down onto the bed. Luke blinked down at him. “Are you okay?”

Collin folded his hands behind his head. “This isn’t how I wanted my night to go,” he complained quietly. “After a perfect date-night with Fox, I come home to hunters. Who, by the way, are actually hunting Dave.”

Luke’s eyes widened. He wiggled around until he was lying next to Collin. “You’re sure?”

“Oh, I’m positive,” Collin said. “Dave is the perfect kind of werewolf that hunters go after. There will always be werewolves, and there will always be hunters, so they focus their attention on wolves that cause problems. Like serial murders. Oh, they’d kill us if they found us, sure, but it’s monsters like Dave that are the prime targets.”

“But…Dave wasn’t here tonight,” Luke said. He flinched suddenly. “Dave killed our neighbors to make the hunters go after us? He wanted us to die tonight!”

Collin reached up to scruff Luke’s messy blond hair. “But we didn’t.”

“But they know a werewolf lives here,” Luke said worriedly. “Won’t they come back?”

“I doubt it,” Collin said, hoping he was right. “The dogs didn’t get on my trail before they were riled up by the neighborhood dogs. And those guys were seen by a lot of people. Not to mention the cops. No, I don’t think they’ll come back.”

“I don’t know how we’re going to fall asleep.”

…

Luke was dead-tired in the morning. Eventually he had fallen asleep, but it had only been an hour before their alarms went off and it was time to get up for school. He showered, hoping it would wake him up, and dressed, hoping he had put his pants on right. The news woman that morning was talking about the disturbance in their area last night, saying the police hadn’t made any arrests, but they had sketches out of the suspects. People were advised to keep their doors and windows locked and report any strange sightings.

It was strangely comforting, knowing that everyone would be looking out for anything strange. Maybe it would keep both Dave and the hunters away.

Dan and Mary had left for work when Collin went downstairs, and he decided to stay in for breakfast. He roped Luke into helping him, and they made French toast and eggs and bacon. It was nice, staying inside and listening to pop music on the radio.

But Collin didn’t like his morning without some foo-foo coffee, so they went through Starbucks on their way to school. Luke asked for a mango smoothie, hoping a shot of sugar and fruit would help keep him awake.

“So do we have to like, watch out for those guys again?” Luke asked later that day. They had gone out for dinner again, this time stopping at a park to eat tacos and nachos. Luke was sitting on a picnic table top with Grey, who was playing games on his phone.

Collin had filled the pack in on the incident earlier that morning, but the subject continued to come up. The entire pack was worried, Fox especially. 

“No,” Fox said after a minute. “I doubt they’ll return to where you live.”

“Even if they suspect a werewolf lives there?”

“It’s too dangerous for them. In neighborhoods like that you don’t hear gunfire or see strange people all the time,” Fox said from where he sat next to Collin. “Last night was proof of that, with everyone waking up and calling the cops.”

“Hunters prefer to stay in the city limits,” Grey said without looking up, “there’s plenty of gang and gun violence for them to stay under the radar. Not to mention the city packs tend to be a little bit audacious when it comes to what they are. They fight in alleys and parks and there are always wolf sightings in the paper. I mean, they write it off as stray dogs in violent packs, but hunters know the truth.”

“Even if Collin hadn’t done anything, you still would have been safe,” Fox said with a glance at his mate.

Collin flushed and looked away. He had received a good scolding from Fox for doing what he did, because Fox was right. If he had remained in the house he would have been perfectly safe. More than likely there had been werewolf hunters the neighborhood before, and they had never tried to get into the house, or even zeroed in on it.

On the way back to the school Luke glanced at Fox. “Oh!” he said, stopping and dropping his backpack to the floor. “I keep forgetting to give you your sweatshirt back.”

Fox laughed and stopped Luke from pulling the red sweatshirt off. “Keep it, Luke. You’re enjoying it a lot more than I ever did. Call it a gift, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” he said with a friendly smile.


	9. Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Parts of this chapter were heavily influenced by the movie, 'Ginger Snaps.' If you haven't watched it, and love werewolves, then I recommend it (it's pretty gory, but that's to be expected.) Also, um, sorry.
> 
> I also updated the archive warnings to Graphic Depictions Of Violence (because there is,) and Underage (because they are under eighteen.)

Luke was on the edge of falling asleep. He was in his fourth hour science class and they were watching a documentary on the Ice Age. He knew he should be paying attention, because the Ice Age was pretty interesting, but something about watching videos on class made him want to sleep.

At least it was Thursday. Once the weekend was here he would be back at the pack’s house with his brother and friends. Grey had promised to show him his wolf shape and maybe the werewolf, depending on how well Luke handled the foremost. He had explained that as werewolves, their primary form was that of a wolf, but they could become bipedal like Dave had, a massive werewolf similar to that seen in horror movies, but Grey guaranteed they were so much cooler than movie monsters.

Luke had been both excited and terrified. He made Grey promise not to tackle him.

“Luke?”

He snapped his head up, blinking at his teacher. “Yeah?”

“You have a phone call in the office,” his teacher said. “Be quick.”

Luke nodded and stood, leaving the darkened classroom behind. The only person who might call was Mary. Luke contemplated why she would be calling during school hours. Probably to make sure he was actually in class (but if that was the case he would have expected her to just show up and stalk him outside his classroom.)

He shoved his hands in his pockets of his jeans as he walked through the school toward the front office. The hallways were all quiet, the doors to each classroom closed. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, bright and warm. The walls were covered in posters made by students cheering on the success of their sports teams and the jazz band. There were posters advertising school plays and concerts and fundraising events.

He was approaching the front office when a strange smell caught his attention. Luke stopped, his sneakers squeaking on the tile floor. He was standing outside the door of the guidance counselor. 

Giving himself a little shake he turned to continue toward the office, when a menacing voice behind him hissed, “Scream and I’ll kill every child where they sit.”

Luke froze, his heart leaping into his throat. Slowly he turned around and stared, wide-eyed, as Dave approached him. The man was dressed like a school janitor, wearing dark blue slacks and a matching button-up shirt that too tight on his large frame. There was blood splattered on the sleeve and Luke wondered what happened to the real janitor.

He wanted to scream, he wanted to yell for help, but Luke had no doubt that Dave would do as he threatened, and kill everyone he could get his hands on. Dave grabbed his arm and jerked him across the hallway to the guidance counselor’s office and shoved him inside.

Luke stumbled through the door and slipped in something wet. Looking down his eyes widened and he lurched back, a scream caught in his throat. Dave’s hand covered his mouth and pulled Luke back against his body. Luke’s eyes darted around the room, to the walls sprayed with blood, and finally stopping at the man dead at the desk.

Luke’s stomach heaved and Dave shoved him away just as Luke vomited, leaning over on his knees. He gagged and looked up, staring at Mr. Robinson. His throat was slit and one arm had been torn off. 

“Isn’t it pretty?” Dave asked with a smirk. He grabbed Luke by the back of the neck and jerked him forward. “I kill him for you. It’s the perfect gift between monsters like us. Don’t you like it? Do you want to eat him?”

Luke shook his head and tried to twist away. He heard Dave growl, a low rumble in his chest, and suddenly he was being shoved into the wall.

“What? Don’t you like it?” the man snarled. “Is this not good enough for you?”

“Why did you kill him?” Luke gasped as he shook his head. “Why did you do this?!”

“Because he’s for you!” Dave yelled, his face turning red. His teeth grew sharp and his nails curled into claws. “I thought you wanted this. Any good bitch would accept this gift with joy. But not you, huh? You and your brother think you’re too good for me.”

Dave lunged at him and Luke yelped as he was lifted into the air and slammed onto the top of the desk. Luke hit his head and for a moment everything was fuzzy. He opened his eyes, finding himself staring into the dead eyes of his counselor. He cried out and tried to pull back, but the desk was slick with blood.

“This is really your brother’s fault,” Dave growled as he leaned over Luke’s body, pressing against him. “I wanted him first. He was such a little slut, you know? I had hoped I could take him under my wing. Teach him the real ways of being a wolf. But he wouldn’t have me. We’ll show him, together, that that was the wrong decision.”

Luke yelped when Dave twisted his arm behind his back. “That hurts--! Let me go!”

“Pain is all part of the training,” Dave said as he threw Luke to the floor. “I am the alpha, the dominate one, and you are the submissive. I will teach you how to be a proper submissive wolf and you’ll learn not to look at me with such eyes.”

Luke shook his head. “I have a pack. They’ll save me from you.”

“Say things like that you’ll end up like this pile of meat,” Dave said as he stalked around the desk and grabbed the dead man by the back of the neck. He slammed his head down onto the desk. He did it again, and again, until the skull started to crack.

“Stop!” Luke shouted as he got to his feet. “Stop it!”

Dave smirked and licked the blood from his fingers. “Have you ever tasted human flesh?”

Luke backed away slowly, toward the door. He needed to get out of here. If he pulled the fire alarm then the school would evacuate. No one had to get hurt. They could get out. And Dave—

A low growl caught Luke’s attention and he looked up, meeting Dave’s wolfen eyes. The man was starting to Change and Luke turned, running out the door.

He had to get Dave outside. He ran past the offices, not even looking to see if anyone was there, and ran for the front door. He could hear paws scraping on the tile floor behind him and a low growl. Then the wolf rammed through the glass doors and was chasing him outside.

Luke ran into the parking lot, breath coming in painful gasps. His legs burned and his heart was hammering to the point he thought he was going to have a heart attack. He continued to run around cars when a wolf leaped the hood of a truck and slammed him into the ground.

Luke yelped, putting his hands up to defend himself. The wolf snapped at him and reared back when Luke kicked at him. He crawled under the nearest car and waited.

The wolf lunged at him, trying to shove itself under the car, when suddenly it was being pulled back. Luke could hear footsteps around him and voices. He lay against the ground, watching as men in black boots surrounded the wolf. A large black van pulled through the parking lot and more men poured from it.

Luke bit his lip and remained still. These had to be the werewolf hunters after Dave! They had guns and electric shock sticks that they were using against the werewolf until they threw a heavy, metal net over him.

When the wolf was loaded into the back of the van, the men disappeared into the back and the van burned its tires and tore out of the parking lot. Luke waited a moment, breathing quietly and trembling, before he started to crawl out from under the car.

He knelt there for a moment, breathing heavy, before he started to stand.

He leaned on the car, closing his eyes for a moment. He was safe. He was safe!

Luke opened his eyes and saw a reflection in the window. Someone was standing behind him. He tensed, lips parting, before he turned around, a yell caught in his throat. Something hit him in the face and everything went black.

…

The world was moving in slow motion around him. He stood outside the school with the other students and faculty. Crowded in the main driveway in front of school were fire trucks, police cars, and an ambulance. Everyone was talking excitedly, watching as armed officers combed through the school. One body was brought out on a gurney and loaded into the ambulance and driven away.

Word circulating through the students was that it was a suicide. There had been no witnesses. A bomb squad was being called in to check the school. He could hear the principal talking over the crowd, they were being sent home for the day, and there wouldn’t be school tomorrow. But Collin wasn’t listening to any of it.

Because his brother was gone, and Dave had been here.

Collin had combed through the throngs of students looking for Luke. There were over a thousand students in this school. It was then that Raven said that when they were being evacuated that he smelled Dave and Luke. Raven and Fox had gone after the scents, tracing them to the student parking lot.

The scents stopped there. They were gone. Grey had trailed Luke’s terrified scent under a car, but from there it was gone. There had been smears of blood on the ground and large footprints, and the fading scent of gunpowder and sizzled fur.

Collin figured it out immediately, and it was like all his nightmares were pouring out of his head and into reality. Dave had been here and he had found Luke. His brother had escaped outside with a wolf behind him. There had been a scuffle in the parking lot and then the hunters, who had been tracking Dave, showed up. The only problem was that they had taken Luke, too.

Someone touched his arm and Collin turned around to face Grey. He pushed himself into his packmate’s arms and started to shake as the world crashed down around him. “Why did they take him?” he mumbled into Grey’s shirt. “Why did they fucking take him?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find him,” Grey said as he pulled Collin through the crowd of dispersing students. When they reached the parking lot they stopped at Collin’s car. Fox and Raven were just coming back, and Grey wasn’t comforted by their expressions.

“Do we have any idea of where they may have gone?” Grey asked. Collin was shaking his head and pressing his face into his neck, trembling all over. 

Fox shook his head and scrubbed his hand through his hair. He looked at Raven, who was staring at Collin with a forlorn expression. 

Raven felt completely helpless, and it was not a feeling he liked. Where did they start looking? Pineview City was fucking huge, full of millions of people. There were countless suburbs, not to mention the thousands upon thousands of miles of protected forest land that was dense and dark and difficult to navigate. And that was assuming they were still in the city.

The sky was clouding over, dark and grey and despondent. Raven touched Collin’s back and then said, “We need to go home.”

“And then what?” Grey asked.

Fox didn’t know. Right now he couldn’t think of anything. 

…

Luke woke up screaming, and had screamed until his voice had gone ragged and hoarse. He was naked and lying on a cold, metal table with his limbs strapped down. A man was leaning over him with a scalpel. The pain that woke him was from the skin samples they were cutting from his arms. 

He’d tried talking to them, tried begging and pleading, but in the end, they had ignored his every request, not even hesitating. One of the men, dressed in white, walked over with an IV stand. 

“Now, let’s get a look at you,” the man said as he took Luke’s arm and shoved a needle into his vein. Luke gasped, shaking and trying to twist away. He watched as a lime green liquid started to twist through the tube until it was—

Luke’s back arched off the table and he opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The pain burned through him until he was shaking so badly he almost overturned the table. Bile rose up his throat and he vomited while blood started to gush from his nose. Invisible flames licked and spread under his skin and pooled in his gut. Luke was sure he was being burned alive. 

Hours later the pain faded and Luke lay silent on the table. He was having problems breathing, and kept gagging, and everything smelled horrible. He didn’t have the energy to care about how he smelled though. He could hear his heart thudding in his chest, pumping blood through his veins, keeping him alive.

His mouth was dry and his lips chapped and bleeding. He tried to open his eyes, but even that amount of energy he didn’t have. But he could hear people talking, and he focused on their voices.

“What do you mean the serum didn’t work? He’s a fucking werewolf.”

“I know, John,” said the second man. “I’ve never had this happen before.”

“Just put a bullet in his head then,” grunted the first man, John.

“Wait, just wait,” pleaded the Doctor. “Listen to me. The serum doesn’t work. I think this is significant.”

“I don’t care about significant,” said John. “I came here to hunt werewolves and kill them, and make a fucking fortune off their fur. If you can’t get this one to shapeshift, then he’s worthless. Dump him in the river.”

Luke cracked his eyes open. He could see the two men. The Doctor grabbed John’s arm. “Listen to me,” he said. “This is my chance to try one of my experiments.”

John paused, looking at Luke, and then back to the other man. “What kind of experiment?”

“This boy can’t seem to become a wolf,” the Doctor said, “for some reason he has yet to go through the transformation, even though we’ve established that he is a lycanthrope. I’ve never had a specimen like this before. I want to try something.”

John narrowed his eyes. “Try what?”

“I want to see if I can force the wolf out of him.”

Luke’s heart started to pound and his chest started to rise and fall rapidly.

“You want to cure him?” John asked, staring at the other man.

The Doctor shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it that, but if it makes you sleep better, then yes.”

John walked to the table where the boy lay. He was young, John thought sixteen but he was small for his size. He tilted his head and pushed the boy’s blond hair from his blood-shot eyes. “Do whatever you want to him,” John said. Bitterness resided inside him, because he’d hoped that a boy with such unique features would have given him a unique colored wolf to skin. Instead he got a dud.

Luke gasped and pulled weakly at the straps holding him down. He tried to speak but his throat was raw. He stared at the two men, but when they looked at him, they didn’t see a boy. They saw a monster.

_I’m going to die here._

…

John Carver stood outside the cage where the young werewolf lay. The monster remained in human skin, if he could even be called human anymore. He was completely broken. His bones were jutting strangely under his skin, and parts of his body were disfigured and his skin darkly bruised. John had no idea how the Doctor’s experiments worked, all he knew is that they did their job, and when they didn’t, well, there was room for improvement.

He had stayed in the room while the Doctor had injected the boy with various chemicals and watched the results. The screaming didn’t last long, because the boy had been vomiting blood that was both red and black. His body had shivered and his bones had started to shake and move. It had looked for a moment like they may have succeeded in making him transform but in the end, nothing had happened.

All they managed to do was stretched his limbs and make him into something misshapen and grotesque and crippled. At least his skin had knitted back together. Watching it peel back to reveal internal organs had been horrible to watch, even for John.

The boy’s skin was stretched tight over his ribs and his back, revealing the knobs of his bones. His fingers were long and twisted, his nails curled into claws. But despite all the change, there had been no sight of the wolf inside. It must be a clever creature to remain hidden so well. John wanted more and more to see the beast within the child.

Bones started to pop and John tilted his head, watching as slowly pieces of the boy started to pull back together. He nodded in satisfaction and went to tell the Doctor that his experiments could continue soon.

Luke heard the footsteps fade away and shifted, whimpering in pain. He cracked open his eyes, and at first was shocked by the sight of his arm lying on the cold ground in front of him. It was long and bruised, with bulging bones and his hands grossly misshapen. He whimpered and closed his eyes.

His breath was rattling and he was forced to take shallow breaths; every time he breathed too deeply something pinched inside his lungs; some broken bone that was poking where it shouldn’t. He tried to focus on the healing going on inside him. He needed to get out of his place, he had to escape.

For a second an image flashed before his eyes; he saw himself strapped down on the table while a monster moved beneath his skin. The head of a wolf pressing against his stomach from the inside, trying to rip its way out of him. Luke lurched onto his back; his body quaking and limbs flopping.

His head started to throb and he whimpered as the pain grew and grew until he couldn’t hear anything but static. Inside him something was breaking, shattering; he could see it behind his eyes. A crack in his spine, a tear in his soul, something horrible was happening.

 _Stop, stop!_ He screamed inwardly. He could see a cocoon inside him, housing his wolf, and he could see the strings that connected the two of them together start to break. The wolf started to fade from sight. He reached for it, his disfigured arms reaching to the top of the cage as he battled inwardly. But the lines were cut, and he was suddenly, dreadfully alone. It was gone.

_It was gone. It was gone!_

…

“Collin, you have to sit down!”

“I will not sit down while my brother is out there!”

“There’s nothing we can do until we have some idea of where to do start looking. Raven and Grey will be home soon. Please, sit down.”

“Fox I will not just sit—“

Fox grabbed him and wrestled him onto the sofa, holding him in his arms. Collin squirmed for a second before he surrendered and tucked his face into Fox’s shoulder. He inhaled deep, the rich scent of his alpha pouring into him and trying to relax him. But Collin couldn’t relax; in fact he’d been in full-on panic attack mode since the shock had worn off. He couldn’t relax, he couldn’t stop shaking, and he couldn’t stop thinking.

“Raven is the best tracker I’ve ever met, and Grey can get information out of anyone,” Fox said. He would have gone with them, but Collin was in no shape to hunt, and he couldn’t be here alone. Fox was scared Collin might do something stupid, like run to the city in his wolf fur and get himself hurt or killed, or worse, do something to hurt himself here in the house. And he couldn’t have that. Never again.

“I can feel his pain, Fox. Something horrible is happening to him…” Collin said quietly, tears in his blood-shot eyes. It was common for werewolf siblings, even lovers and packmates to form special connections. The bond was mental, not in the sense that they could speak to each other, but that they could feel each other’s feelings. And right now Collin could feel little hints of Luke’s pain.

“He’s so scared, and I’m not out there trying to find him!” Collin yelled while a sob caught in his throat.

“You could run until your legs fell off and you still not find him,” Fox said, slowly releasing his grip. He let Collin scoot away and sit alone at the other end of the sofa. “Just wait for them to come back. They’ll be home soon.”

“It’s already morning,” Collin said softly, looking out the East window in the den. Tears sparkled from where they were caught on his lashes. They hadn’t slept all night. Collin was exhausted, but whenever he closed his eyes he saw terrible things. Felt terrible things.

“I can’t even return Mary’s phone calls,” Collin said as he bowed his head. “What do I tell her? Luke went missing yesterday, Fox. I can’t even…tell her.”

“You don’t need to,” Fox said, “because we’ll find him. Collin, I promise.”

Fox stood, looking out the front door, staring out into the trees and watching as the sky turned into a soft painting of bright morning colors. An owl hooted a farewell to the night and the mornings birds began to sing. It was a beautiful morning, serenaded by peaceful song of birds, but there was nothing that could calm Fox’s rage, which he had worked so hard to hide from Collin. Inside he was fuming, his wolf growing angrier by the minute. Fox might not have the connection with Luke that Collin did, but he could see the pain his mate was in, and knew that whatever Luke was being subjected to was far worse.

His eyes flickered, the whites bleeding black. His scent started to change, his fury starting to roll off the scent glands and through his skin. Fox stepped outside, hoping Collin didn’t notice the change. He didn’t want to worry his mate any more than he was.

But the alpha wolf inside of him wouldn’t be silenced. The knowledge that someone dared take the puppy of the pack had it riled up to the point of no return. Whoever was responsible for this would pay for this; for damaging a part of the pack, for taking the most valuable member and for putting his mate in agony. 

Fox swore his revenge; whoever did this would die by his teeth.


	10. Lycanthropy

Luke snarled and kicked at the man that was trying to drag him from his cell. His limbs had finally pulled themselves back together and he could breathe without shaking. He knew what they wanted to do, and that wasn’t going to happen. He was broken, inside and out, he knew something was terribly wrong, and he couldn’t fix it if he was tortured again.

 _I am not going back!_ The man grabbed his leg and pulled, but Luke kicked him and then lunged, trying to bite his hand. He scooted to the back of the cage, only to have a chord slipped through the bars behind him and catch him around the neck.

“Keep fighting like that you little fuck, and we’ll suffocate you right here,” growled the man behind him as he pulled the chord tight and caused Luke to gasp for air.

 _Kill me then!_ He continued to fight, even as spots danced before his eyes. He wasn’t going to give up. He growled, reached back through the bars, trying to stop the man who was suffocating him. He fought until his last breath.

…

“Vandina and Verum are here,” Grey shouted from where he stood at the front door watching as a Jeep drove down the long driveway and pulled up to the house alongside the pack’s cars. He ran down the porch to greet them.

Vandina greeted Grey with a long hug. Her scent, she-wolf and vanilla, calmed him for just a moment. He pressed his face into her neck and sighed. “Thank you for coming,” he said as they parted. He turned to Verum and greeted him with the same long hug.

He walked them up to the house where the rest of the pack was waiting.

“I’m glad you two could come,” Fox said, getting up from the couch where Collin sat, eyes bloodshot and face pale with worry. “We really need your help.” The stress was starting to weigh down on the entire pack. They weren’t eating or sleeping, and they were starting to bicker amongst themselves. Then Grey had been hit with an idea and had called Vandina and Verum.

“Vandina told me about what you said over the phone,” Verum said in a deep, sultry voice. He was light-skinned and had startling golden eyes. Like Raven, the pair had been born werewolves. “I think we met Luke once at Moonbeam.”

“Yeah we did,” Vandina said. She was wearing tight black leather pants and a purple and lace corset top. She shook her head, sadness in her eyes. “We’ll do all we can to help find him.” 

“We have no where to start looking…” Fox admitted. “We tried tracking throughout the city but there’s just, nothing. There’s _nothing_ for us to start with.”

“What wolves do not see, crows always do,” Verum said with a little smile. Verum had a special gift that allowed him to speak with crows and ravens. He could see what they saw and find places unseen by human eyes. “I’ll go and see what they can tell me, I’ll be back soon.” He kissed Vandina and nodded to Raven, who had stood immediately and walked with the young man out the front door. The sun had started to set, casting a golden light on two black wolves as they ran into the forest.

“Verum will find a path, I promise,” Vandina said softly. She went to Collin and sat with him, putting her arms around him. “Have you felt anything from him?”

“He’s in pain,” Collin said. He frowned and shook his head. His hair was disheveled and he had heavy bags under his eyes. His lip was raw from chewing on it and he had been digging his nails into his hands to the point that he was bleeding. “Something is wrong though, I felt…something. A tremor. I don’t know what they’re doing to him.”

Vandina pressed a kiss to Collin’s forehead. “We’ll find him. I swear it, Collin.”

…

That tiny purse that Vandina always carried with her seemed to be a bottomless pit, because Collin could not imagine all the things that she could cram in there. As they sat, waiting for Raven and Verum to return, Vandina handed Collin a large bar of rich dark chocolate and pulled out a snack bag of mixed nuts, dried fruit and animal crackers for herself. When Grey came sniffing around for food she handed him a prepacked snack cake. She pulled out a small velvet pouch of bones, and she scattered them onto the coffee table.

Collin watched as she moved the bones around, frowning.

“I have no idea what you’re doing,” he said softly, “but do you see anything good?”

She pursed her lips. “I’m sorry, but I don’t.” She pulled a small crow totem from her purse and set it down on the coffee table. “But the crows never fail.”

He closed his eyes and dropped his face into his hands, fighting another wave of anxiety induced nausea. He’d been feeling sick all day and had been throwing up, but now his stomach was empty and he was feeling sick for another reason.

“Eat your chocolate,” she said. Vandina crossed to the kitchen, filling a cup with water, and returned, handing it to Collin. “You’re not helping anyone by suffering this way.”

Collin exhaled while his brow knitted into a frown, but he didn’t argue. He pulled a corner of the wrapped to the side and broke off a chunk of chocolate. He ate it slowly and reached for the water. “Thank you.”

“They’re back!” Grey suddenly shouted. He had eaten his cake and had been pacing through the living room, his eyes never leaving the window. 

Everyone was up and standing near the door as Raven and Verum jogged through the yard and up the porch. A black crow sat on Verum’s shoulder, and puffed up at the sight of them, but did not fly away. Raven immediately went to the refrigerator and took out a hunk of leftover roast beef from a previous meal and held it out to the bird.

Collin watched the bird eat the meat and then stared at the two, his eyes pleading. He was squeezing his hands together, looking ready to explode, when Verum finally spoke, “We have an idea of where they are. She tells me that there has been much blood in the rental buildings outside of the city, near the train station. She tells me there has been much noise at night, noise that scares the other animals away, but attracts the vultures and crows. She says that there is much wolf scent there, along with the scent of gunpowder. The guns do not scare her. She has seen men in black clothing with dogs, and she has seen ways inside.”

“Thank the Moon,” Vandina breathed with a happy look on her face as she clapped her hands together.

Collin had to sit down, and did so heavily, causing the chair to slide across the floor. He dropped his head into his hands and took several deep, trembling breaths. 

“Then let’s go!” Grey shouted. “Right now!”

“We can’t just go in there blind,” Fox snapped, his voice sharper than he meant for it to be. “Verum, can you take me there? We need to see what we’re up against before we go charging in there.”

Verum pet crow’s feathers softly as he spoke, “Yeah. She’ll lead us there. And she says that they’ll help when we return to attack. The crows hate that place. The men with the guns shoot them for fun. She has lost too many sisters.”

Grey was vibrating angrily, to the point that Vandina went to take his hand. “Calm down,” the she-wolf said. “Grey, calm down.”

“We shouldn’t wait,” he said and pointed to Collin, “look at him! We have to go!”

“Fox is right,” Collin said as he leaned forward on his knees. “We can’t just run in there. We’ll all get killed. We’ve never…done anything like this before. I don’t want to wait, I don’t, but I don’t want us all to die. I want to _rescue_ Luke.”

Grey’s shoulders slumped and he leaned against Vandina. 

“Ready, Fox?” Verum asked.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Vandina took a moment to kiss Verum and pet the crow before the two left. Raven stayed behind this time and went to sit with Collin, who had started shaking again. Grey went and stood out on the porch, staring into the growing darkness and listening to the owl’s that lived in the area. He wanted to go now; he wanted to rescue Luke _now._ He leaned on the porch railing, digging his nails into the wood, feeling it splinter beneath his skin. He tried ignored it when he felt the muscles in his hands tense, the bones strengthen and his nails grow. 

He had to stop himself before he Changed. It wouldn’t do any good to waste any energy right now being angry. Grey knew he’d need every ounce of strength to rescue Luke from those hunters. And they would rescue him, he was confident that nothing could stop their pack.

…

“What’s your name?”

No answer.

“Do you have a pack out there?”

Still, no answer.

“You little fucker, answer my questions!”

The guard growled but was waved away by the Doctor. Luke stared forward through his lashes, unable to fully open his eyes or speak. His eyes were so damaged that he couldn’t even see anything but fuzzy figures. However he could hear them and they were plotting other things to do to him now. It sickened him to know that they were enjoying his torture.

“I think we’ll succeed the next time,” the Doctor said. “We were close.”

John nodded and stared at the boy. He’d seen the shape of a wolf twitching beneath the boy’s skin. It had grown, but not changing with the boy, but had been emerging as a separate entity. Only it didn’t separate, the boy had fallen into a seizure and flat-lined for a few minutes. After bringing him back, they had dragged him back to his cage.

“Give him a little time to get his energy up,” John said. “I want to tear the beast from this boy and I want it to live. I want to see the real demon.”

“And the boy?”

“Like I told you before, Doctor,” John said as he turned away, “dump him in the river.”

…

Vandina sat on the sofa, meditating quietly, hands folded in her lap. Grey’s two dogs lay quietly on the floor nearby, half-asleep and ignoring her soft words. She looked up suddenly, her violet eyes wide. Something dark seemed to pulse through her, but it didn’t come from her, it was something echoing off of Collin—

She stood up with a start and screamed, “Collin!” just as a body came falling down the stairs.

...

Fox sat on his bed, thinking about the upcoming attack. The hunters were holed up in an abandoned warehouse. Most of the windows were boarded up and the doors had been closed off, and they had put up security cameras and the doors they did use were guarded.

He sighed, dropping his head into his hands. This would be the pack’s first real fight. Sure they’d had skirmishes with other wolves before. There had been little fights that left fur flying and them licking wounds, but it had never been a life or death situation. Now lives were on the line, and not just the pack’s, because Vandina and Verum were going to charge in there with them.

As alpha it was his responsibility to keep them safe and alive, and to rescue Luke.

He lay back on his bed, thinking of his life up until this point. He thought back to the night when he’d been mauled by what he thought was a strange dog. Then he had endured three days of excruciating pain before his first Change under the full moon. He didn’t remember what he did, or where he went or how he got home, all he remembered was his mother screaming at her son, who was naked and covered in blood. 

There had been no sympathy there; they had never been sympathetic to Fox and his problems. They were rich, and they were powerful, and their popularity was more important than their parenting skills. His parent’s lives revolved around politics and money, and the only thing that ever bothered them was a threat to their reputation and empire. So when Fox started to babble about a strange dog, and the moon, and nightmares of being a wolf, it had not gone well. It got worse when his mother saw on the news that three people had been killed by a large dog and partially eaten. 

Fox looked back now and realized he was lucky. He was lucky that they hadn’t condemned him to an asylum or a boarding school or killed him. Instead they sent him across the country, by himself, and told him that they would support him financially until he was eighteen, and then he’d be on his own. Not that he wasn’t on his own now, all he had from them was money. They bought the house, the car, paid the bills and made sure his bank account always had money in it for food and gas and essentials. 

They had meant for him to go off alone. Fox knew they expected him to die. He wondered what kind of story they had lined up for that. It would have been the perfect sympathy card for them to play, too bad he never died.

It wasn’t his own survival instincts that kept him alive though, no, it was a chance encounter during a layover in a Chicago airport. He’d been sitting alone for three hours, counting down the time until his next flight, staring at his feet and trembling both from fear and hunter, when someone sat down next to him.

Fox turned to a boy barely older than himself, but he had eyes that seemed ages old. He offered Fox a bag of beef jerky and a little smile. The boy had tan skin, deep blue eyes, and shoulder-length black hair. He leaned close to Fox, telling him that he knew what Fox was, that he could smell what he’d done, and told him that he was going to be okay. Raven had taken the shaking young boy into his life that day, and the two had formed a strong bond, that while not always visible to those around them, was always there.

Now the pack’s puppy was gone, kidnapped by people that Fox had only heard about and see from afar. Fox knew that going in this would mean killing again. It wasn’t something he looked forward to, werewolf or not, killing should never be something one enjoyed, but it was going to happen. People were going to die, and Fox would be the one to rip out their throats with his teeth.

With a heavy sigh Fox stood up and stretched. He was walking across the bedroom when he heard a loud bang that sounded like someone fell down the stairs. Running out the bedroom door he reached the top of the stairway, looking down just as Vandina and Raven rushed to Collin. The floor was smeared with blood and Collin wasn’t moving.

“Collin!”

…

Luke thought for a moment that he was home. When he’d opened his eyes he saw the house, he could smell the others. He’d felt a strong link with Collin, like he was standing beside him, holding his hand, and for a second there had been a connection. But the connection had broken when the Doctor had used paddles on his chest to get his heart beating again, and now, while he lay trying to recapture the feeling of home, he was thrown back into reality by a sharp spark of pain.

Luke opened his eyes to the cage and the guard in front of him with an electric shock stick.

He could barely see, everything was fuzzy and everything hurt. He lurched away from another electric shock and snarled, moving to the other side of the small cage. The man taunting him laughed and stood up.

“This one is more fun than the others here,” the man said. “He’s feisty.’

Another man came into view and crouched in front of Luke. As he seemed to sit and study him, Luke realized that the man was wearing his necklace. He frowned and let out a growl that was more like a wheeze. 

“They want to start again soon,” the crouching man said. “The doc thinks it’ll work this time. They were really fucking close last time. Did you see it? Like a fucking John Carpenter movie!”

Luke stared hatefully at the two men. They treated him like he was some kind of animal, but he wasn’t some monster! Why couldn’t they see that? He couldn’t even Change. In fact he couldn’t even feel the wolf inside him. Why did they insist on hurting him so much?

He shook his head, staring down at his hands. His body was thin, his skin almost translucent, and he was still disfigured, his limbs stretched too long. He felt sickness churn inside him, but there was nothing to throw up but blood and bile. He closed his eyes.

 _Collin._

…

Putting her hand to Collin’s forehead, Vandina had, for a moment, seen through Luke’s eyes. She’s felt the stillness in his chest and the shock that had started his heart again. _Death! The boy had died._ With shock she pulled back, and stared down at the gentle white wolf in surprise.

“What happened?” Fox asked, taking Collin into his arms and slowly lifting him.

“He saw through Luke’s eyes,” she said simply, getting a rag to clean the blood off the floor. “We can’t wait. What they’re doing to him… It’s horrible!”

Grey was pacing the living room, throwing off anger in heavy waves. He couldn’t calm down, and he couldn’t think straight. All he wanted to do was go. 

“We’re leaving,” Fox said. “Collin stays here. But we’re going. I’m not waiting any longer.”

“The crows are ready,” Verum said. “We’re ready.” 

Vandina nodded and took her mate’s hand, squeezing it. 

“Grey, put a first-aid kit and some blankets in the car, we’re going to need them when we’re done with this,” Fox said. It would be faster to go there on paws, but if they were injured, and with Luke hurt, they would need a way home that didn’t involve walking.

Fox carried Collin to his bedroom and left him in there, wrapped up in blankets and a wall of pillows. He would be safe, and Fox prayed that when he woke up, it would be to a reunited pack, not to an empty house because they’d all gone to their deaths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of werewolf violence coming up next!


	11. Cry Wolf

Luke didn’t understand how people could treat someone the way they were treating him. They didn’t even know him. They didn’t even care. They just saw a monster when Luke hadn’t even seen that part of himself yet. How could he be a monster, when that part of him hadn’t even surfaced yet?

He laid shivering, eyes rolled back with drool on his face and bloody vomit smeared on his flesh and on the ground next to him. His limbs were twitching painfully and his heart was beating sluggishly in his chest. They wanted the wolf inside him; they weren’t going to stop until the monster came out. He’d died again, and they brought him back. They continued to bring him back.

The last time they had tried, Luke had seen his skin swell, had seen something moving beneath him. He’d started to scream, not because it hurt so badly, but because it was _wrong._ The wolf was a piece of him, and now they were trying to steal it. He hadn’t even had the chance to experience the Change, hadn’t walked on his paws, and hadn’t howled with his brother and packmates. They were tearing his soul in half and they didn’t care. They didn’t fucking care.

There was a big man pacing outside his cage. Luke could feel the vibrations on the floor. He curled up into himself the best he could to protect himself from whatever torture was going to come next. 

“Maybe if we start cutting off pieces of him, he’ll finally give the doc what he wants,” the man said as he pulled a long knife from his belt

The second guard hesitated. “If John catches you…”

“Fuck John,” the man said with a heavy sigh. “I’m tired of listening to this little bitch scream and not give it up. I’ll make him Change. That’ll make them both happy.”

The guard turned away, watching down the hallway to make sure no one else came to witness what they were going to do. He heard a body hit the bars and a gasp and a desperate gurgle for breath. The guard turned quickly.

“David, that doesn’t—oh shit!” 

It wasn’t the boy who was gasping for breath, but the man. He had fallen back against the cage with hs throat ripped open. The boy was crouched in far the corner, blood covering his mouth and neck and chest. His body was shaking and his expression was hatful, feral. Gold wolfen eyes stared at the two men and the boy’s nails curled into claws. 

“Fucking hell—“ the guard gasped as he hauled his rifle forward. He had seen a lot of horrible, terrifying things in his life. He’d watched his comrades kill and capture werewolves, had seen them torture the wolves and skin them alive. But this was a whole different kind of horror. What was staring at him was a demon, not a wolf or a human.

He raised his rifle as footsteps filled the hall behind him. Soon the cage was surrounded by men. A stainless steel chord was slid into the bars and used to lasso the boy around the neck, holding him back, suffocating him, as they dragged David’s lifeless body from the cage, leaving a wet streak of blood behind.

…

Grey sat in the backseat of Fox’s car, jammed between Vaninda and Verum. He was trembling uncontrollably, his skin twitching and palms were sweating. His brain was full of static and he couldn’t focus his thoughts on any one thing. He closed his eyes, trying to contain his energy, but it continued to pour out in waves.

Vandina’s hand slipped into his own and squeezed. “I know what you’re feeling,” she said softly, “but you need to relax, if you don’t you’re going to Change here in the car.”

“I can’t calm down,” Grey said in a rough voice. “I want to—I need to get there.”

The she-wolf sighed and cupped Grey’s cheek, turning him so she could kiss him. It was soft, her lips sliding over his, until Grey exhale noisily. “Just breathe, Grey, okay?”

He nodded and closed his eyes.

The car shook as they left the road and drove through a thicket of heavy trees. When Grey left the car he saw that the trees were filled with crows. They made the trees look like they were covered in a heavy black moss. The usually loud birds were quiet, pressed together on the branches, watching the werewolves with glittering black eyes.

“We go on paws from here on out,” Fox said. “Stay together.”

Within minutes five wolves stood together; one brown, one grey, one charcoal and two black. Verum took the lead with the crows, which rose like a shadow, their wings rustling the trees and ruffling the wolves’ fur. 

The pack ran into the trees and swept through an open field. The grass was tall enough to hide them. Ahead lights lit the night and they could hear voices and the rumbling of vehicles. The crows scattered, cawing and screaming, flocking around the building like a giant black cape. 

_There are security cameras!_ Grey yelped as he fell in line behind Fox.

 _They won’t see us,_ Verum answered as he continued forward. Grey lashed his tail nervously and watched as groups of birds descended, landing around the cameras, blocking the video. At the same time they landed around the building, close to the guards. The men had drawn their weapons and nervous sweats glowed on their skin. They watched as the birds started to settle. The hordes of crows grew quiet and they waited.

Vandina ran beside Verum and found a tear in old security fence around the building. She fit through it and then pulled it open from the other side for the larger male wolves. Raven stood watching the guards, who were still distracted by the crows.

The building created its own shadows that covered the pack. The five wolves prowled around it until they found an open garage door. One guard stood there but his attention was on his cell phone. Fox waited, watching as two crows dove at him, knocking the phone from his hands. It slid off the loading dock and to the ground below.

When the guard jumped down the ramp to retrieve his phone, the pack ran inside garage door. The garage was filled with vehicles and large crates, but there were no humans there. The pack gathered together behind a large truck.

 _We split up here. We have to find Luke and get out as soon as possible,_ Fox said. Nervousness blossomed in his stomach and he squared his ears, fighting the sickness. Now was not the time to be scared or nervous, he had a pack to lead, and he had to be strong and brave. And he had Collin waiting for at him at home.

He felt a pain in his chest. Collin should be here with him. It wasn’t right, going into a fight without your mate at your side. But they couldn’t have waited. And while the wolf inside Fox was confident of the white wolf’s abilities, Fox wasn’t sure if he could have risked losing Collin. 

Fox shook his head and bumped against Grey, who pushed back and nipped at his muzzle.

 _One of the crows told me that there are very few cameras inside,_ Verum said. _They couldn’t get far inside without having to retreat, but they said there is a control room, bunkers for the men, and large security doors that lead to the basement._

 _What do we do if we find Luke?_ Grey asked.

 _Grab him and get out,_ Fox said. _The crows will spread the word and we’ll all get out. Don’t linger, don’t do anything stupid. Find him and get out._

The pack split up then. Doors would have been easier to open with hands, but it would take too long to Change back and forth, so they made due. Fox and Raven stayed together, taking the main hall. The lights inside were dark and they didn’t see any security cameras, or much security for that matter.

 _They must have never thought an inside attack could happen,_ Raven said.

 _If they’ve been doing this for a long time, then they probably grew cocky and lazy,_ Fox answered as they crept slowly toward a corner. He flicked up his ears and glanced at the black wolf next to him. _Three men._

Raven nodded and lurched back. Bones broke and crunched as Raven grew from wolf to bipedal werewolf, over eight-feet tall and packed with muscle. Beside him Fox started to shift also, and when he was finished, the three guards had turned the corner.

The first victim didn’t have a chance to scream before Raven was on him, teeth tearing through his throat and severing his head. The other two reached for their guns, but Fox lunged, swiping one with his claws, spilling guts across the floor, while his teeth sank into other the man’s skull. He pulled back and gave a savage shake, like a dog with a toy.

Blood sprayed the walls and made the floor slick. Fox stepped back from his two kills, ears flicking, before looking to Raven. His black fur was glossy and wet; his eyes were bright and set with determination.

Fox knew he couldn’t flinch. He couldn’t feel anything but rage. He pulled his lips back, revealing his bloody werewolf teeth, and Raven did the same.

Down a separate hall Vandina leaped onto a man while Verum shifted into his werewolf-fur. She snarled, teeth sinking into the man’s neck and spraying blood, which for a moment blinded her. She reeled back, shaking her head, ears flattening, when a spray of bullets hit the ground near her paws. She hurried back as Verum charged around her, ramming the hunter into the wall before his claws sank deep into the man’s chest and ripped him apart.

Vandina turned, leaving bloody paw prints on the ground. A shadow covered her and she looked up as dozens of crows crowded the hallway like a shadow, cawing and screeching, flapping their wings and blocking out the lights.

A door flew open and a dozen armed men charged out. The werewolves turned to engage as the crows descended, going for the hunter’s eyes. Screams filled the hallway along with bullets and blood and the snarls of werewolves.

Vandina pushed into her bipedal body. She was more slender than her male counterparts, but that didn’t make her any less deadly. She grabbed the nearest guard, biting down on his neck. Bullets hit her ribs and she snarled, tossing the dead man away to go after the one with the gun.

There were so many, and some of them had bigger guns, knives, and even an electrified net. Verum’s fur sizzled from the electric charge, but it didn’t stop him. With crows swirling around him like a whirlwind he tore the netting away and lunged through the doorway.

Alarms were going off and the emergency lights came on. They were in some kind of control room and Vandina went for the computers, ripping into them. Sparks flew and a fire started. No data would be salvaged from these computers; no more werewolves would be harmed by these sick men and their experiments.

_Vandina! Let’s keep moving!_

She turned, stepping up next to Verum. They were both covered in blood, and the bullets hurt, but that wouldn’t stop them. They were both very old, older than the pack of Howl even knew. She had endured more than this, had recovered from horrifying wounds and tortures. 

The she-wolf nuzzled against the other wolf. Through the scent of blood and wolf fur was the heady werewolf scent they both shared; their scents were so mingled from years of contact that it had almost become one single scent.

The crows around them started to circle, leading the way, and the werewolves followed.

…

_I smell Luke._

_Yeah, me too._ Fox squared his ears as he followed Raven up a short flight of steps to a double set of doors. He snarled and lunged, knocking the doors open and stumbling into a large room. 

The room smelled horrible. It was set up like a surgical suite, with metal tables and tall lights and a drain in the center of the room to wash away blood. There were little tables filled with instruments and IV stands with colorful liquids hanging in the bags.

Luke wasn’t here, but he had been. The scent of his terror and blood was heavy in the room. Fox felt his body vibrate with fury and he went to the cabinet filled with chemicals and overturned it, shattering jars and vials on the floor. 

Raven suddenly roared and snarled, lunging at two men who came running through a hidden door. One was dressed like a surgeon, and the scrubs he wore were splattered with Luke’s dried blood, the second man was wearing Army fatigues and a cowboy hat. 

_He tortured Luke,_ Raven said as he curled his lips back, revealing his teeth. 

_He’s mine,_ Fox answered as he lunged. A shotgun blast to his ribs slowed him, but didn’t stop him. He tackled the doctor to the ground and heard the human’s bones snap under his werewolf weight. The man screamed, bringing his hands up to shield himself.

Fox bared his teeth before he curled his claws into the man’s chest, tearing through flesh and muscle, before lunging and sinking his teeth into the man’s throat. Warm blood gushed into his mouth and wet his fur. He bit again, through man’s bones, until his head rolled away.

Behind him Raven had taken out the other man, spilling his guts on the floor and leaving him to lie there and bleed out, staring in horror at his entrails that were lying around him.

Fox lumbered away from the bloody scene, pausing to bump against Raven and lick at the blood on his face. Raven licked him back, his tongue brushing against his muzzle.

 _It’s getting quiet,_ Fox said as he flicked his ears. The alarms were still sounding, but the lights were off. They could smell smoke from a fire somewhere and the fire alarms had been triggered, the water sprinklers in the ceiling were spraying and lights were flashing. Crows were screeching flocking around the bodies of men lying in the hallways and in rooms. They tore them to pieces, eating hunks of flesh.

 _We need to find him,_ the black werewolf said. _Let’s split up._

…

The alarms were sounding. Luke lay in his holding cell, listening to the annoying scream of the alarm, which was echoing through his head to the point that he wanted to scream to shut it up. He opened his eyes, which were swollen and red from being beaten and drugged again. His punishment for killing one guard and biting two more had been a heavy dose of whatever drug they were using to try to separate him from his wolf.

Only this time it had started to work. His skin had split and something had moved beneath the surface. But the Doctor hadn’t been there, nor John, and in their fear the men had used their electric shock sticks to force the beast back inside him.

Then they’d knocked him in the head and threw him back in the cage.

Luke didn’t remember most of it however; he had passed out the moment the separation had begun. From what he heard after he woke up though, it had been pretty damn horrifying. His skin had stretched, and the form of a wolf had been trying to force its way out. His body had broken open and bled so much that Luke honestly didn’t know how he was still alive. Even now he lay in a pool of blood; he could smell it and taste it in his mouth.

At least it didn’t hurt so much anymore. His nerves were fried, his muscles were Jell-O and his skin was stretched, hanging off his bones. His veins bulged from beneath the skin, which seemed translucent in the flashing lights of the alarm.

He tried to focus his vision as a man came into his holding cell. Luke could smell the fresh blood, and it made him frown. His vision cleared enough for him to see that the man was scratched up terribly, especially around his eyes. He was stumbling, leaning against the cell bars.

“All this…is because of you…I know it is,” he said, stopping and staring down at the helpless creature on the floor. “These—these fucking birds—how can birds act that way? They tried to take my eyes! Do you fucking see what happened?” He raised his rifle and brought it down on the boy, tearing a gasp from him.

“Why do birds fucking care about you!” he screamed over the alarm.

Luke didn’t have much choice but to curl up in a ball and try to cover his head. 

“How about I rip your eyes out, and let them eat them!” the guard shouted hysterically. He looked back over his shoulder as the sound of cawing birds filled he air. He leaned down to Luke, grabbed him by his hair and pulled him up. The boy was limp and dead weight as he shoved him back against the bars. He flipped out his pocket knife, raising it to Luke’s face, who stared blankly; the only sign of fear were the tears running down his bruised cheeks.

The knife was brushing against his cheek when the man was lurched back. Luke heard a surprised squeal followed by the sound of mashing bones. He knew that sound well enough, after hearing it happen within his body again and again. Luke slid down the bars, falling back down onto the concrete, and stared straight ahead as a huge gray werewolf tore the guard to pieces.

He blinked and frowned. Was he hallucinating?

The werewolf threw the pieces of guard to the ground and turned, staring at Luke with soul-piercing blue eyes. It was massive, dwarfing the hallway, standing on strong legs and covered in heavy fur. The werewolf’s grey and white fur was matted with blood, and there was a raven sitting on his shoulder, staring at Luke. He watched the bird hop down the werewolf’s back and then fly out of the cell, cawing loudly.

The little blond whimpered, trying to move away as the werewolf approached. Terror filled his eyes and he held up a shaking hand to stop the wolf. But it only leaned down onto all fours so it could enter the cage and pushed its nose forward into the boy’s shaking hand. Luke flinched before he realized the wolf wasn’t biting him. It was nuzzling him and whining, pushing against his weak arms where his bones were almost visible and then licking away the blood was smeared all over his naked body.

Luke began shaking because he realized, somewhere distantly in the back of his mind, that this was Grey. His friend. His packmate. He knew those blue eyes, he’d looked into them many times before, and Collin had said that Grey was grey and white in wolf-fur.

He let out a gasp that melted into a sob, and he slumped back, eyes fluttering closed. Safe, he was safe! He was _saved._ Warmth surrounded him as the werewolf gathered him into his arms and stepped back out of the cage. With the boy tucked against his chest, the werewolf turned and walked away.

…

Grey couldn’t believe that the body in his arms was Luke. He almost didn’t believe the crow at first when she led him to the cage. He’d stared, watching as the guard screamed at the disfigured form on the floor and threatened to cut out its eyes. But scent didn’t lie, and neither did those beautiful lilac eyes, wide with fear.

He had snapped, letting his control go and went after the guard with a wolf’s fury. He’d ripped the man to pieces with his teeth and his claws. This wasn’t the first man he’d killed on his way here, but he was the first that he’d torn to pieces with such ferocity. This man had been about to carve his little pup to pieces, and the wolf inside had taken over control.

 _What did they do to you?_ Grey whined as he held the trembling little body in his arms. Luke looked so small, so thin, so…ruined. He was skin stretched over bone; he was bloody and bruised and smelled horrible. 

He leaned down, dragging his tongue across the boy’s skin, trying to clean him of blood and other filth, when a crow landed on his shoulder and cawed in his ear. Grey flattened his werewolf ears and growled, but turned and followed the bird from the room and into the hallway and up the long stairway. The alarms had stopped and it was suddenly dark; the smell of smoke was starting to grow heavier and Grey growled.

As Grey walked through the building he heard gunfire and screams and werewolf howls. Birds were cawing and their feverishly flapping wings echoed up the hallway like a whirlwind. Looking down at the body in his arms made Grey want to re-join the fray, because he wanted to kill these men. He wanted to kill _all_ these men.

But he couldn’t do that, not with Luke looking so fragile. He nodded to the crow and followed her toward the nearest exit. The rest of the pack would know by now that Grey had Luke, word spread from bird to bird, and they should be on their way out as well.

… 

Verum raised his head from the body he was mauling when half a dozen birds swarmed the hallway, cawing and shrieking. _They found him!_ He stood up and howled loudly, voice booming through the hallways, scattering the birds. Vandina had been breaking through a security door, peeling the steel back with her claws and flexing her muscles. Gunfire erupted from inside, but the werewolves didn’t fear bullets.

They hurt, yes, and enough would kill them, but their skin and muscle and fur was denser than a Kodiak or polar bear, and with their fast healing it took a lot to stop them. More than what these men had to offer.

 _Vandina, Grey has him, let’s get out of here,_ Verum said.

She backed up and nodded. _Raven had gone to the basement._

 _He’ll find his way out,_ Verum responded as he turned, falling onto all fours as he melted from werewolf to wolf. Vandina did the same and then they were running the halls, leaping over bodies of men that had been killed by wolf and devoured by crow. 

The two wolves ran for the exits, stopping only when confronted. They raced from the compound just as two other wolves joined them. Both were in their wolf fur, and Fox’s brown fur was splattered with blood. Raven’s black fur was slick with it, making him gleam wetly in the moonlight.

Fox’s heart was pounding in his chest. _Grey must have him,_ he thought to himself. He hadn’t seen the omega since the fight had begun. He had forced himself not to worry. Grey was stronger despite his rank in the pack. He was strong.

Pain made him stumble but he charged on, not slowing. He couldn’t focus on the pain radiating through his body. Bullets fucking hurt, he didn’t care what anyone said. He picked up Grey’s scent and ran fast, propelling himself through the trees—

He stumbled and almost fell when he reached the car. Grey had a frail body on the ground and was pressing on his chest and leaning over to give him a breath. Fox frowned, giving his head a shake.

_Is that Luke? That can’t be—_

Grey snapped his head up when he saw the four wolves approaching. His clothing was tattered from his rushed Change, and he was bleeding and bruised and trembling. But it wasn’t the pain making him shake; it was the unresponsive boy lying in the dirt. Tears ran down Grey’s face.

“Help—“ he gasped before he leaned down to give Luke another breath.

Fox Changed clumsily and he felt blood rising in his throat. He was still young for a werewolf, and might have begun to conquer his animal instincts, but turning into a wolf on his own still took a lot of extra energy. He fell to his knees as Raven, in his human skin, darted past him.

“He stopped breathing as soon as we reached the trees,” Grey was babbling, looking at Raven with desperate blue eyes. “I didn’t notice as first—too much in a rush to get away—“

“Give him a breath,” Raven said calmly, leaning down to listen to Luke’s chest. After Grey breathed into him, he pushed on his chest. “Keep breathing for him, Grey.”

Fox reached them, while Verum and Vandina stayed a few yards away, watching impatiently in wolf fur. They sat hip-to-hip, ears perked with sharp whines caught in their throats. Fox knelt near Luke, staring at the boy he hardly recognized. What kind of torture did they do to him?

“Come on Luke,” Grey was begging between breaths. “Pull through.”

“Wake up Luke,” Fox said quietly, staring down at boy. “After all that…you gotta wake up.”

Raven leaned down to listen to his chest again, head remaining there as Grey continued to give Luke breaths. Finally he raised his hand to stop Grey. “Quiet,” he ordered softly, closing his eyes.

After several torturing seconds, Luke took a breath on his own. Everyone exhaled and Grey closed his eyes to stop the tears that were pouring down his face.

They knelt around the figure in the dirt. Luke was breathing slowly, the sound wheezing and harsh, but his chest and rising and falling and his heart was starting to beat strongly. His skin was pale and darkly bruised and his limbs gangly and exaggerated. Bones pressed against this flesh and he was covered in filth.

Raven went to the car and came back with a blanket. He wrapped Luke’s naked body up and lifted him. “We need to go.”

Fox turned to the pair of wolves sitting near the trees. “Are you coming back with us?”

Verum shook his head and Vandina stood, only to jump to their paws when an explosion suddenly rocked the ground and a fireball lit up the forest. The two wolves whined and leaped back, while Fox and Grey covered their ears.

“Is that what you were doing in the basement?” Fox asked Raven after the fireball flickered out and the sound of roaring flames filled the air.

“No one else will go through this,” Raven said, looking down at Luke.

Fox turned back to the two dark wolves. “I’ll call you. Thank you so much. I can’t even begin to think of ways to repay you.”

The two howled softly and then disappeared into the trees. Then the trio went to the car, Raven and Grey in the backseat with Luke, while Fox got into the driver’s seat. The three were hurt and bleeding, any wounds that hadn’t healed during the shift from wolf to man ached horribly, and Fox was sure he had two bullets still in his leg.

But their aches and pains could wait. What was wrapped in the blanket in the backseat could not.


	12. Moon Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the final chapter to this book! I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to comment or leave kudos. It means so much to me xoxo. And don't worry, there are a lot more stories involving the Howl boys to come. I've been working on rewriting the second book, and hopefully I'll start posting in a couple weeks. Thanks so much, keep howling!

Collin sat on the steps of the front porch, staring into the darkness. It was a quiet night and the sky was clear of clouds, revealing a gorgeous tapestry of stars and the shining moon. Any other night he would have stretched out in the grass to just stare up, or gone to the Ridge to bathe in the moonlight, but not this night, he couldn’t focus on any of the beauty around him. He had woken to an empty house. There was no way to reach his pack and he had no idea where they had gone.

He dropped his head into his hands and pulled at his pale hair. His heart started to pound again and his palms sweat. A million scenarios rushed through his head at the same time, clouding his thoughts and his ability to think clearly, until he was nearly sick with worry and guilt and the shame that he was here, while they were out there, fighting for their lives.

Tears wet his face and he wiped them away. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on his pack, on Luke, but everything was quiet.

His head snapped up when he saw lights down the lane. He rushed forward, heart hammering in his chest as Fox’s car pulled up the gravel and through the yard to the house. He ran to the back door and pulled it open.

A sob burst through him when Grey slipped from the backseat, limping badly, with Luke cradled in his arms. Collin stared at his brother’s face, white in the moonlight, and pressed his hand to his cheek.

“You got him,” he cried. 

“Let’s go inside, come on,” Fox said as he limped around the car. Collin took his arm and helped him to the house. Inside Grey set Luke on the floor before he collapsed. Next to him dropped Fox, and Raven sunk down to his knees, breathing heavily. 

Collin knew his packmates needed him, but his brother needed attention first. Collin unwrapped Luke from his blanket cocoon and for a moment lost all thought. He stared at his little brother, at his disfigured and abused body. There were horrible bruises and scrapes and cuts all over him. But the newest bruises were the most telling: the shape of hands on his chest.

CPR. They were doing CPR on him. Collin swallowed hard. _How many times did you have to die before rescue came?_

“What did they do to him?” he asked in a shaking voice. “Look at him…”

“We should clean him up,” Fox said as started to stand, only to have his legs give out. He slumped to the floor with a groan and a growl.

“I’ll help,” Raven said as he stood carefully. He could feel scrapes and cuts tearing open as he moved, but it was pain he had to ignore. He followed Collin, who had picked Luke up, to the downstairs bathroom.

He went to the bathtub, pulling the curtain out of the way, and filled the tub with warm water. Collin lowered to the boy into the water and together they washed him.

While Raven and Collin bathed and tended Luke’s wounds, Grey and Fox took care of each other. 

“How many bullets?” Grey asked as he dragged the first-aid kit to his side.

“Feels like two,” Fox said as he pulled off what was left of his clothes. “In my leg and one in my shoulder. I think I shed the rest.”

Grey nodded and grabbed a scalpel and a forceps and tweezers. He sterilized the wounds and then started to cut. Fox grunted in pain, lying back, his muscles taunt and eyes closed tight. Grey worked as fast as he could, pulling the bullets out and dropping them into a jar.

“Took you long enough,” Fox grunted as he sat up. He sterilized the holes, and the cuts and scrapes, slapping on bandages and steri-strips. 

“I blame the school system for not giving us better medical training,” Grey said with a little grin. 

“Maybe one of us should look into taking some medical classes,” Fox said as he switched places with Grey. Grey didn’t have any bullets to cut out, but his leg had a massive gash along the calf. Fox paled. “What the fuck happened?”

“Grenade,” Grey said with a painful laugh. Tears built up in his eyes as Fox cleaned the gash and started to stitch it. The stitches were awkward and sloppy, but they did the job. He laughed again, because it was better than crying. “Fuck that fucking hurts.”

“I’m not doing it on purpose,” Fox said. He finished the stitches and shook his head. “I’m impressed that you could even walk.”

“Adrenaline,” Grey said. He winced as he sat up. He stared at Fox. “I can’t believe we made it out of there alive. How did we do that?”

Fox smiled and then laughed. He pulled Grey close and hugged him tight. Grey nestled his face into Fox’s neck, breathing deep, comforted by the scent of his alpha. Fox closed his eyes, focusing on Grey’s heart beat against his own.

He nuzzled against Grey’s shoulder and then sat back enough to kiss him.

“I’m okay,” Grey insisted. “Now that it’s over, I’m just in a bit of shock.”

“I get what you’re saying,” he said as he clumsily stood. 

Collin came out of the bedroom, carrying Luke in his arms. The boy had been bathed and bandaged and dressed in a pair of Raven’s shorts and sweatshirt. “I’m taking him up to your bedroom, Fox.”

“Want me to carry him?” Fox offered.

Collin smiled gently. “I got him. And by the way you two look, I think I’ll be carrying you next.”

“Come on, let’s use the shower upstairs,” Fox said, grabbing Grey’s wrist. 

Collin went to Fox’s bedroom and tucked Luke into bed and then slid in beside him, staring at the boy. Luke hadn’t needed any stitches or steri-strips, just a few bandages. He was mostly bruised and thin; his skin pale and his cheeks sunken.

Within minutes the rest of the pack joined them, collapsing onto the bed. Raven still had wounds to tend though, and Grey hobbled from the bed and fetched the first-aid kit and went to the black-haired boy.

“Let me help.” Raven had shed all his bullets during his Change, but he had some heavy scrapes and cuts that were hurting. Grey carefully dressed all his wounds and then crawled back into the bed.

Raven leaned over Grey to hand Collin something.

“Where did you get this?” Collin asked as he took the necklace from Raven.

“A guard was wearing it,” he said as he lay back against Grey. “I took it back.”

Then it was quiet. Grey fell asleep first, snuggling against Raven, way past his personal bubble boundaries, but Raven allowed it, because he felt the need for comfort too. Then his eyelids grew too heavy and he relaxed against his packmate, eyes closed and arm thrown over his eyes.

“I never thought I would see any of you again,” Collin said quietly. Fox was lying on his back, his head on Collin’s lap. His deft fingers gently combed through Fox’s hair, massaged his scalp, and rubbed his neck and shoulders. 

“After you fell, we left,” Fox said, his voice somewhat slurred. He was exhausted but he fought it. He wanted to spend this moment with his mate, he wanted to take Collin his arms and hold him, but he couldn’t summon the strength. “I had hoped if we waited until it was late enough that most of the guards would be asleep.”

“I’m guessing they weren’t,” Collin whispered. He gently ran his hands up and down Fox’s neck and rubbed his shoulders, working at the knots in his muscles. For a moment Fox was quiet and Collin thought he had fallen asleep until he opened his eyes with a little started.

“I didn’t want you there,” Fox said with a little shudder. “I knew that you should be at my side fighting but it was…hell. Hell inside there. I wanted you safe.”

“Shh,” Collin cooed, leaning down to kiss Fox’s forehead. He rubbed Fox’s neck and then started to pet his hands through his hair again. “Go to sleep, Fox. I’m safe, we’re all safe.”

“I love you,” Fox murmured. “So much…”

“I love you, too,” he whispered back. He smiled as Fox finally gave into sleep. Collin carefully maneuvered himself out from under him, lying Fox’s head in the pillow, and then stretched out between him and Luke. 

He tucked a lock of blond hair behind Luke’s ear before settling down beside him.

…

Luke woke up with a start. At first he was alarmed because he couldn’t move. He thrashed, panicking, before he realized he wasn’t chained up, but wrapped in blankets. With his heart pounding in his chest Luke slowly raised his head from the pillow and tried opening his eyes. The room he was in was bright, the light blinding his sensitive eyes, and he closed them tight and turned his face away from the light source.

“Luke?”

He frowned at the sound of his brother’s voice. _Am I hallucinating? Am I dead?_ His heart started to pound and he flinched when a shadow covered his face.

The room was suddenly dark as someone pulled the curtains, and then the bed was shifting. Luke opened his eyes and stared at Collin, who was kneeling over him on the bed. His brother looked tired, his was skin pale and his hair was messy. He wasn’t used to seeing Collin so disheveled. 

Collin smiled tearfully. “Hi, Luke.”

Luke started to struggle and Collin reached down to help. When the blankets were pushed down he lurched up, wrapping his skinny arms around Collin’s neck. Warm, strong arms circled him and he started to cry, pressing his face against his brother’s chest. He heard murmurs around him and the bed started to move again as more bodies joined them.

“I’m home?” Luke whispered hoarsely. Collin was warm and solid beneath him; he wasn’t a hallucination or a dream. He was real. _Home! I’m really home!_

“You’re home,” Collin said, pressing a kiss to Luke’s messy hair. “Home and safe.”

He tried to stop from sniffling, but he started to cry again, so hard that the sobs made his entire body shake. Collin held him tighter, rubbing his hand up and down Luke’s back. Collin could feel the knobs of Luke’s spine, could feel the shape of his ribs. Luke choked on another cry and struggled to breathe.

More hands touched him, rubbing his back and his shoulders. The rest of the pack was there with him, he could smell them now. Each distinctive scent rushed through him and he shuddered, pressing his face into Collin’s chest. They were whispering, telling him how happy they were to see him.

He leaned away from Collin, staring at their faces. Like Collin they looked exhausted. Each one was bandaged and bruised, but they were all smiling at him with eyes full of tears.

Trembling so badly he thought he was going to fall apart, Luke reached for each one. Hugs were given, soft kisses to the cheek and forehead received, and then he was exhausted and lying back on the bed again, in the nest of blankets and pillows. He rubbed his eyes and sniffled.

It was Sunday morning and the nightmare was over. With Collin’s help he pulled on fresh clothes after another shower. For a long time he’d sat in the bathtub with the hot shower pouring over him, just staring at his hands, his arms, his feet; his body.

Every moment memories slipped away from him. He rubbed his forehead and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Something terrible had happened, he knew he’d been tortured, but something else had happened. He just didn’t know what. 

Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

“You don’t remember anything?” Collin asked. He and Luke had made a blanket fort in the living room behind the couch. Luke was sitting against Raven, who was asleep.

“Little pieces,” Luke said as he flexed his bruised fingers. “Flashes of…terrible things. They were hurting me, but I don’t know why. Or what they actually did.” 

Collin bit his lip. “I guess its best you don’t remember.”

Luke’s brow knitted and he sighed. “I’m scared to sleep. What if I have nightmares?”

“Then you come sleep with me,” Collin said, “and I’ll protect you.”

Luke smiled, rubbing at his eyes. He’d been crying on and off all day. Suddenly he shook his head, lilac eyes wide. “I can’t go to school tomorrow, Collin. Look at me!”

Collin tilted his head. Luke had healed a lot in just a few hours, and his healing had accelerated once he had eaten something. He didn’t want Luke to get sick by eating too much too fast, so he had him nibbling on bits of fruit and drinking lots of water. Grey had made him a chocolate protein shake with ice cream, which had cheered him up. 

“I’ll call Mary,” Collin said. “I’ll tell her you have a flu bug or something.”

“She’ll want me to come home though?” Luke asked. He was wearing another pair of Grey’s pajamas, an oversized gray sweatshirt and pajama pants that were fuzzy and warm; they were blue with glow-in-the-dark flying saucers on them. 

Collin chuckled. “No, remember the last time we were sick? She wore a mask and sprayed everything we touched with Lysol.”

“Oh yeah,” he said with a weak smile. He picked a grape out of the bowl of fruit he’d been slowly eating. There was a box of crackers next to it for when he started to feel queasy.

“I might as well do that now,” Collin said as he shifted, pulling his phone from his pocket, “want anything while I’m up?”

“No thanks,” he said. When Collin left, Luke closed his eyes for a moment, a wave of fatigue rushing over him. Carefully he lay down, trying not to disturb Raven, when the older boy snaked his arm around Luke’s waist and pulled him close. Luke smiled, snuggling against him and inhaling his woodsy, wild scent.

“Is it cuddle time?” 

Luke looked over his shoulder as Grey crawled into the fort and stretched out. Grey had been limping around all day, but he hadn’t let it stop him from carrying Luke around whenever he felt like his legs might give out. 

“Cuddle time is nice,” Luke said sleepily.

Grey chuckled and lay close to him, but didn’t curl up against him. He watched Luke as his breaths evened out and he fell asleep, tucked against Raven, who was awake now.

“He’s looking good,” Grey said softly. 

“He’s healing fast,” Raven agreed with a nod. “I think in a couple days he’ll be, well, not fine, but able to participate in school and take care of himself.”

“Does he remember anything?” Grey asked, dropping his voice to a low whisper.

“Not much,” Collin answered as he returned to the fort. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I want to know what they were doing to him. I want to know why he looked like he did. I want…” he frowned, shaking his head, “I wanted to taste their blood in my mouth, Grey. I should have been there with you, killing those fuckers.”

Grey frowned, staring down at the blankets he was lying on. He remembered when they returned home, shortly after tending wounds and going to the bedroom with Luke. He’d stepped away after a little while because his stomach was turning and he couldn’t get the taste out of his mouth. The taste of human flesh and blood. He’d gone to hide in the bathroom, vomiting until his stomach was empty. The toilet had been filled with blood.

Raven had followed him and Grey had pleaded for him to go away, but in a rare moment of sympathy Raven had sat with him, rubbing his back while he vomited again. 

“I can’t get over the taste,” Grey had sputtered as he sat there, trembling. “The wolf inside me, it liked the taste and the blood, it wanted more. I know that—that it was partly because I was so angry, but—that wasn’t the only reason. It wanted more.”

“Blood-lust isn’t uncommon, Grey,” Raven had said, “you know that. We’ve hunted animals during the full moon. You’ve seen how it can get out of control.”

Then Raven had asked, “Was this your first taste of human blood?”

Grey had sat there, shaking, before he shook his head. “No.” He wished so, but no.

“Grey?”

He snapped back to the present and looked up. Fox had joined them and was sitting with Collin. They were all in pajamas and t-shirts. The windows of the house were open, letting in fresh air and birdsong. Earlier it had rained and the smell was still in the air; refreshing and rejuvenating. “What?”

“Mary said she’d excuse Luke for Monday and Tuesday,” Collin said, “do you mind staying with him tomorrow? I’ll stay Tuesday. I’ll have no problem telling Mary that I’m sick, too.”

“Yeah, of course, you don’t even need to ask,” Grey said, glancing at the sleeping little blond.

“The full moon is Wednesday,” Fox said as he leaned back. 

“Do you think he’ll Change?” Grey asked.

“No,” Collin said, “it’s too soon.”

…

“Hey Grey, can you help me?”

Grey looked up from where he sat at the kitchen table. Luke was sitting on the sofa, blankets pulled up to his lap and slipper-covered feet sticking out at the end. Dunri was curled up on the sofa with him, keeping his legs warm and being good company. Grey was at his side in a second, looking down at the younger boy. “Yeah?”

Luke was squeezing an unopened water bottle in his fragile hands. “I can’t open it.”

Grey smiled at the boy’s embarrassed blush. He took the bottle from him and easily twisted the cap off before handing it back. “Don’t worry, Luke, you’ll be back to your full strength in no time. You’re already healing really fast.”

He meant it, too. Luke was still bruised, frail and fragile, but his skin wasn’t hanging off his bones anymore and he looked human again. His limbs were no longer exaggerated and you couldn’t see his bones. He just looked sick and fatigued. “Well, it’s almost noon. What would you like for dinner today? Your wish is my command.”

Luke smiled at him. It was Grey’s day to ‘babysit’ him and had been great company and help, though Luke had been really embarrassed to ask for help walking to the bathroom. He could do it if he leaned on the wall, but his legs were still shaky. It was just easier to have someone to lean on. 

“Whatever you feel like,” Luke said.

“You know I’ll eat anything.” Grey tilted his head, smiling brightly.

“Well, my stomach actually feels really good today,” he said, “so how about cheeseburgers?” Yesterday he had ate a very limited and easy diet, so he wouldn’t get sick. But today his stomach had been rumbling on and off. 

“I love cheeseburgers!” Grey chirped happily. “What do you want on yours?”

“Just cheese and ketchup and mustard,” Luke said as he fiddled with the long necklace he was wearing. It was the one his brother had given him, and the one that Raven had taken back from one of the hunters. “Nothing too exciting.”

“As you wish,” Grey said as he headed into the kitchen. The pack always had lots of food available. As werewolves they took in a lot of calories, especially around the full moon when they would Change. Food was always a top priority. Well, maybe right behind sex. “There is an apple pie in the freezer. Want me to make it?”

Luke perked up. “Yes!”

Grey laughed; his voice was rich and full of warmth. He put the pie in the oven to cook while he assembled the ingredients to make a couple cheeseburgers. He saw they had French fries in the freezer, so he spread some onto a baking sheet and put them in the oven as well. He fried up two cheeseburgers, taking his time so that they would be ready at the same time as the fries. Knowing that Luke’s stomach was still a little sensitive he poured him a dish of applesauce. Luke had gone through almost two jars, saying it was sweet and easy on his stomach. Grey added a little cinnamon to it.

“Pie is cooking,” Grey said as he walked into the living room with their food. He handed Luke his plate of food, a medium cheeseburger on a sesame seed bun and a pile of fries with ketchup. He was going to sit on the floor with his own food when Luke moved, swinging his feet to the floor.

“You can sit by me,” he said with a timid smile.

Grey smiled softly, taking the seat next to Luke. They ate their lunch while watching a hockey game on the television. When the pie was ready, Grey served them both a slice with a tall glass of milk.

Luke sighed happily, feeling full but not bloated, and leaned against Grey’s shoulder. He felt the other boy tense and quickly leaned away. “Sorry.”

“No,” Grey said hurriedly, glancing at the boy. “It’s okay. I’m totally snug-able.”

Luke looked at him, his lilac eyes giving away nothing, before a little smile tugged at his lips and he leaned against him again. 

They sat like that for a while, until Grey went to start the dishes and the laundry. The pack shared the household duties. The chores changed weekly, so no one was stuck with doing the dishes or laundry every week. Luke had thought it funny, he thought that a household of werewolves wouldn’t have such a system, but according to Fox it worked well. It wasn’t without its flaws: Raven always messed up Fox and Grey’s clothing and Grey hated cleaning the bathroom and Fox could never seem to get the dishes completely clean.

Luke was just getting comfortable and sleepy when there was a knock at the door.

“Grey?” Luke called worriedly through the house. He was answered by Grey’s pounding feet as he came down the stairs. Luke peered over the back of the couch to the door, watching as Grey opened it with an excited laugh.

“Hey! I didn’t expect you guys!”

Vandina and Verum stepped into the house, stopping to greet Dunri and Dashi as the dogs raced to the door. Collin had told Luke that the two had helped in finding and saving him. Luke knew he wouldn’t be alive if it hadn’t been for the two people currently standing in the doorway.

Shakily he stood, leaning on the couch for support.

“We came to see…” Vandina started before she spotted Luke. She smiled warmly. “To see you, pup.”

She was carrying an exaggerated bouquet of bright, colorful flowers, and Verum was carrying what looked like a cake box. Grey lead the dogs to the kitchen door, letting them out into the yard as Vandina went to Luke gently. She kissed his cheek and then presented him with the flowers.

“These are for me?” he asked as he blushed up to his ears.

“This as well,” Verum said as he set the pink box on the coffee table. “It’s a chocolate brownie cheesecake. We thought you might want something sweet.”

Luke blushed again, biting his lip. He buried his nose in the flowers. “Thank you. And th-thank you for helping. For saving my life. I can’t even…” Tears flooded his eyes and he hoped he didn’t start crying. He hadn’t cried all day and had hoped that he could through an entire day without it. “Where I was…I mean I couldn’t…”

Vandina shook her head, shushing Luke by touching his cheek with her palm. She took Luke’s arm, helping him sit because he’d started to shake, and took the seat next to him. “Don’t worry about it, Luke.” She brushed his tears away and smiled softly at him. “All I care about is that you’re safe and you’re healing.”

“I-I am,” he said with a little nod. “Slowly.”

Verum sat beside her and Grey sat on the coffee table. As they talked Luke realized how blessed he was. What did he do to deserve wonderful friends like these? These people have gone through hell to save his life. Grey, Fox and Raven were his brother’s friends, his pack, so it made sense to Luke that they had ventured into the hunter’s headquarters to save him. But these two people here Luke didn’t even know. But they had saved him.

Luke blinked away a new set of tears and buried his face in the flowers.

…

On Wednesday Luke felt well enough to go home. He needed clean clothes and had to report in to Mary. He still looked pale and weak, and she readily avoided him after seeing he was alive, out of fear she might catch whatever he had.

It was the one time Luke was grateful she was a germ-a-phobe, it made sneaking out of the house Wednesday evening after school a lot easier. Because that night was the full moon. Luke’s first full moon with his pack. He was as excited as he was worried. The nightmares had been bad the last three days, and though he had tried to keep it from Collin, his brother had known. They were sharing a bed, so it wasn’t like he could lie to him when he woke up screaming.

But he hoped that tonight would help stop the nightmares.

Luke sat in the yard on a blanket as the sun set. The sky was ablaze with red, orange and yellow. Darkness started to crawl up from the East. Luke could tell that the others could feel the approaching moonrise, they seemed anxious and jittery and Grey was especially hyper. 

Luke felt a nervous tingle in his stomach. Before the horror of last week, he had been looking forward to seeing his friends in their wolf fur. Now, more than ever, he felt it was important. 

“Okay, it’s coming,” Collin said with a sharp intake of breath. It wasn’t like in the movies. The sky wasn’t black and the stars weren’t out. The sun was setting but the moon was also rising, and though they couldn’t see it, they could feel it; hear it. A soft hum had started in his veins, the moonsong rushing through his blood and beating with his heart. His skin was trembling and he felt a wave of sickness as his internal organs stared to shiver. “We won’t be able to talk to you until the dawn, Luke. But if you get tired and want to go in, just tell us. We can understand you, just not the other way around.”

“You’ve said this like, a dozen times,” Luke said with a shake of his head. “I know.” He stared at his brother because Collin’s eyes were changing. They maintained their deep brown color, but the whites were bleeding black. He remembered the way Dave’s eyes had changed like that, but they had been crazed. Collin still looked calm.

The four boys were in nothing but their underwear, Collin said he was easier to shift bodies with little or no clothing. Luke didn’t understand just _how_ they went through the Change with clothing. Fox said sometimes it shredded, sometimes it didn’t. Shoes never made it through. Jewelry seemed to always reappear. It was weird physics that Luke couldn’t comprehend, and the pack didn’t understand it either. Grey had just said “werewolf magic” and shrugged.

Tonight was the first night of the full moon, which was actually a three-day cycle. Collin had explained to him that the first two days were the strongest, and the third day was the weakest. Most werewolves Changed uncontrollably during the first two days, but the third day depended on how hard they felt the pull and how in control of the wolf they were.

The sound of bones breaking suddenly filled the air, along with groans and gasps of pain. Luke forced his eyes to remain on Collin. He had wanted to watch them all, but the sight of his brother spitting up blood was terrifying enough. He held his breath, biting his lip and dug his blunt fingernails into the palms of his hands. Collin fell to the ground and his skin started to ripple. Fur grew from his flesh and his back legs broke and twisted, snapping back into place loudly. 

Luke swallowed hard and covered his mouth. He could hear the others going through their Change, but his eyes remained on Collin. His skull was changing shape now, bulging forward as teeth broke his lips and his eyes sank back. His human ears seemed to move up his head and formed into large canine ears. Collin’s long pale hair shortened and whitened, becoming heavy wolf fur.

Collin finished his Change on his side. A large white wolf lying in the fading light of sunset as darkness stretched over the sky. Luke exhaled the breath he’d been holding and gasped. They were all wolves now, and they were staring at him.

Luke hiccupped nervously, stretching his legs out in front of him as the large white wolf pushed to his paws and focused on him. Then it was walking toward him slowly, wolf mouth open in what Luke might describe as a soft smile. The wolf’s tail wagged tentatively behind it and when it got closer, the wolf dropped his head and whined. 

He smiled nervously, raising his hand. The white wolf nuzzled his palm before stepping up to him and licking his face. The white wolf nudged against him, making Luke squeak in surprise and bury his hands in the wolf’s heavy white fur. Somewhere the moon was rising over the trees and the wolf’s white coat had started to glow.

“Hey,” Luke laughed, trying to push him away. The three other wolves approached then, slowly as not to scare him, before pushing their wet noses against his neck and cheek and licking at him. Luke covered his head, laughing, trying to avoid licks to the face.

“Gross, stop!” he yelped as Fox pushed him over. The large wolf made a growling sound, but it wasn’t threatening or frightening, more playful. He licked at Luke’s hair and nipped at his t-shirt. “Fox—!”

Fox sat back, tail wagging and green eyes glowing. He was mostly brown, with bits of tan and white on his stomach and darker brown fur on his ears and back. Raven was solid black with deep blue eyes that seemed black in the shadows. Grey was shades of grey and white, with black-tipped ears and tail and had bright, glowing blue eyes.

The black wolf stepped up next, sniffing at him and trying to lick him. While Luke tried to avoid another wolf-kiss, Grey snuck up behind him and licked his neck and nipped at his hair. Luke squeaked in surprise, trying to push the massive wolves away.

“You guys are acting like a bunch of puppies,” he said as he leaned back. The white wolf collapsed into his lap suddenly, rolling over and pawing at him. Luke caught one of those paws, which was larger than his hand. His words only earned him a wet lick to the ear from Fox. 

“I wonder what I’ll look like,” he said wistfully as the black wolf sat next to him. He’d asked Fox about what determined a person’s colors as a wolf. He’d said that most werewolves were shades of brown, grey or black. Fur color as a wolf didn’t always coordinate with a person’s hair color. Fox had let it slip that Grey’s real hair color was black, but as a wolf, he was grey and white. Collin’s fur color was the rarest there was; no one knew why there weren’t more solid white werewolves. There were was also shades of red and even gold, tan and amazing mixtures in brown and grey. The color spectrum was as wide as the color natural wolves. 

Luke smiled at his brother, the white wolf, who glowed like moonlight. They had stopped licking and nuzzling at him, and had broken off throughout the yard. 

Grey sprang to his paws, running through the moonlight, before throwing his head back and belting out a loud howl. The rest of the pack answered, their voices singing through the night. Luke didn’t know what they were saying, and he didn’t care, the song was beautiful to his ears and it calmed his soul. He smiled tearfully and felt a rush of emotions that made his heart swell.

The wolves ran around him, playing and wrestling, taking moments to catch their breath and howl. Collin never went far, always prowling back to his brother, shoving his head under his arm and leaning against him. Luke would run his fingers though the white wolf’s heavy, warm fur and gently scratch behind his ears.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Luke said. “You can go play with the others.”

The white wolf made a soft woofing sound. Luke could just about imagine what his brother was saying, so he pushed him away. “I’m serious, Collin, go on.”

Luke sat back on the blanket to watch them. They never went out of sight for long, always coming back, always watching him with their eyes gleaming in the dark. In his nightmares the gleaming eyes always scared him; the sight of wolves running through the darkness always had him waking feeling sick and scared.

“This isn’t scary at all,” Luke said to himself with a smile.

Grey, after being bullied by Fox and Raven, whined and darted to Luke, looking for some comfort. He was the omega of the pack, meaning he was picked on by the others. Collin for the most part left him alone, but Fox and Raven often bit at him and shoved him around. It was the pack way, there was really nothing Grey could do about it.

But now Luke was here, and Grey slinked behind him and nudged under his arm, whining. 

“They shouldn’t be so mean to you,” Luke said as he pet Grey’s ears. The large wolf crawled beside him and lay on the blanket. He felt Luke’s gentle fingers move through his fur and find all the spots that itched. He wagged his tail. “You’re my hero. So you can stay by me all night if you want, I’ll protect you tonight.”

Something flickered in the wolf’s blue eyes. He stared at Luke before he nuzzled closer until Luke let the wolf curl in his lap. The wolf was way too big to fit, so it was just his upper body, with his front legs draped over Luke’s thigh. He closed his eyes, tucking his head against Luke’s stomach as the boy went back to petting his ears and down his neck.

Luke looked up when Fox let out a low growl. Raven growled back, showing his teeth. Luke’s heart started to pound as he watched the wolves circle each other before lunging, teeth flashing in the moonlight and fur flying. They were snarling and their teeth made sharp sounds as they snapped at each other.

“Are they just playing?” he asked the wolf in his lap.

Grey looked over his shoulder and nudged against Luke’s hand. Seeing that Grey wasn’t concerned, Luke took a few deep breaths to calm his heart. The two wolves continued to spar until Fox had Raven pinned beneath him. The black wolf growled before submitting and lying back in the grass with a huff.

Collin was suddenly sprinting around the two wolves. He was slender and fast, and when he started running he was like a comet, blazing white and tearing through the dark night. Raven squirmed out from under Fox and darted after him, disappearing into the shadows. Luke squinted, looking for him, when Raven suddenly emerged from behind him (making Luke feel like he was going to have a stroke) and leaped around him. He charged into Collin, tackling him to the ground.

The two snapped at each other, growling, before the brown wolf leaped into the fray. He lunged at the white wolf, which promptly bit him on the nose.

Fox leaped back, whining and licking at his nose. Collin huffed, shaking his head, and nuzzled at the alpha. He seemed to snicker, his wolf face grinning and laughter dancing in his eyes.

Luke could just about image what the two were saying. He giggled. “They’re dorks, even as wolves, aren’t they?”

Grey snorted and leaned up, licking at Luke’s chin. His blue eyes were bright as he gave Luke a nudge. He tried to push him over, but Luke pushed back, laughing. “Don’t you dare crush me!” Luke leaned away from the large wolf before Grey gave up and turned, joining his pack.

He was growing tired, but he didn’t want to give up and go inside. Luke was afraid that if he left this all behind that somehow he would lose it, that he would wake up and find that it was just another dream.

But after a while he laid down. Collin darted over to him, whining softly and nudging against him. Luke rolled onto his back and smiled sleepily.

“I’m okay,” he insisted. “I don’t want to go inside. I want to stay out here with you guys. Keep doing your wolfie things.”

The white wolf smiled and circled Luke before he lay down next to him. Luke closed his eyes, listening to the wolves as they ran through the grass. They stopped down to sing again, voices cutting through the night. He let the sounds of howling fill his ears and vibrate through his chest. The moonlight washed over him, shining brightly, and Luke let himself sleep.

**END.**

**Author's Note:**

> http://softwolffeathers.tumblr.com/


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